Learning to Die: The 117th Hunger Games
by santiago.poncini20
Summary: "Like everyone else, you want to learn the way to win, but never to accept the way to lose, to accept defeat, to learn to die is to be liberated from it. So when tomorrow comes, you must free your ambitious mind, and learn the art of dying." - Bruce Lee. It is a SYOT closed to submissions. So come submit! (Collaboration with IIJamesII)
1. Introductions

_**Introductions**_

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Citizen, (16)**_

* * *

I roll around in bed, shivering and shaking. _Why, why, why_? I keep asking myself and yet I know why, I know every reason why I am constantly bullied at the academy and why I have no friends.

"Wels, get ready to go!" I slip out of bed and strip, slowly I change into my training clothes and lazily walk down the steps. Despite the smell of my favourite breakfast drifting into my nose. As soon as I see them all at the table, I quickly clear my eyes from tears and put on a huge, fake, smile.  
"Hi guys! Excited to see the volunteer list today Ali?" I ask my twin sister with fake positivity and she laughs.

"Excited to see if I am chosen to volunteer to die? I mean it's basically suicide!"

Ali. She has always been normal to me. Whether I am crying or laughing she is always the exact same: sarcastic and funny. I wouldn't say she tries to cheer me up but sometimes she makes me realise that I will be missed if I die.

I grab a pancake off the table and tell my parents I am going to walk with my 'best friend' Lukas but really, he is my boyfriend. But it just doesn't ever feel right to come out to bisexual to my family as a lot of them are strict conservatives and I don't know what I would do if they suddenly turned on me.

"Hey babe." Lukas says as I stroll towards him.

"_Shhhh!_" I put my hand to my mouth and usher him forwards, "Remember my parents still don't know." I say as we get a little further from the house and I give him a peck on his tanned cheek. Ever since I met Lukas, I knew I loved him, but we became best friends and it wasn't until about a month ago he became my boyfriend after coming out as gay. Lukas knows everything about me: my depression and of course my sexuality. Which are my 2 main secrets so far in life.

Finally, I see the big domed building – the academy. I have always been good at training at the academy but it's more just rehearsing for real life situations for me and I have never really wanted to be a volunteer and have 'fame and glory' in exchange for my mental wellbeing.

I rush inside and check in to my training area, with the 16-year olds, and Lukas kisses me goodbye as he goes off to find the 17-year olds.

"Oh look! It's Mr. Sensitivity!" A voice says and a bunch of kids from the side giggle and whisper, clearly looking at me. I rush off towards the spear throwing and start to throw spears at the target while asking,  
"What do you want Nile." A tanned and dark-haired boy walks over to me. I always smirk when he walks because he thinks he walks cool when he has his hands following his leg's pattern.

"Nothing Sir Cry-baby." He snickers and then says, "Too bad your ugly boyfriend isn't here to save you. You are disgusting, you homosexual bitch."

I clench the spear in my fist and carry on shooting at the targets.

Bullseye, after bullseye. Comment, after comment.

"Shut up Nile." A girl says and she walks to my side, "At least he can walk properly." I snicker as my friend makes the comment and he says,

"At least I don't cry every day and at least I don't love boys." Immediately after Maya, the friend that made the comment, grabs a spear and shoves it into his foot. He wails with pain and I grab the spear off Maya as a trainer comes in and he glares at me.

"What have you done…" He says but not as a question.

Soon I see the male volunteer: _Nile Potro. _Soon Maya begins to tear up and I support her,  
"I will take the blame but thank you for standing up for me, Maya."

It wasn't long before I was called into the head of the academy's office. I stumble in and she sits on a black spinning chair. She tells me to take a seat and so I do but as far from her as possible. "So, Mr Saltear, mind explaining why you injured our Male volunteer? Almost guaranteeing he won't be able to volunteer." She glares at me with a big frown and I reply with,  
"He was being homophobic towards me and being offensive to my depression."  
"And you think I give a fuck? My only job here is to make District 4 win The Hunger Games, not deal with stupid bullying." She tells me and I ask her,  
"What about the back-up volunteer?"

"I have a far better idea. You break the volunteer? You be the volunteer. So, you better volunteer at the reaping Saltear because if not. I will ruin you."

I nod and run out the room.

"Y-you have to volunteer?" Lukas asks after I tell him and his bottom lip trembles when I nod. "No. You can't. Wels, please."

"I have to, or she will… _Ruin me._" In truth I feel like I can't get more 'ruined' but I am not taking any chances to destroy my loved one's lives as well. Lukas pulls me close and his mouth interlocks with mine as we kiss but this feels more like a goodbye kiss. When he lets go, I smirk. "You know we can kiss a lot more in the next 2 weeks?" He laughs and grabs onto my waist.

"Of course, we can." He says and kisses me goodbye as we reach my house, but an expected person is there. Ali. As I pull away, I see Ali staring through the window open mouthed and eyed.

I run into the house leaving Lukas and shout, "Ali!" She comes out and shrugs.

"You know I don't care and if you don't want me to tell anyone then so be it."

I hug her.

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Citizen (18)**_

* * *

I am in a pit of bones.

Well, not literally, but a hospital might as well be one. It is however, a nice pit of bones. People treat you right here, and it´s not like anyone wants you to die here.

Not even my own mind.

It´s a peaceful state. Here you can relax, read some books, and just stay quiet and calm without anything or anyone disturbing you.

As I read an old book "_Rebellion on the Farm"_ (Which is still in use, mostly because the Capitol thinks it is a way to subdue the minds of the rebels and tell them the use of a state like that isn´t going to work and to tell people that rebels suck.) I see everything around me. The nurses are there, for me and the other patients are there too. I see a guy who can´t stop flirting with one of the nurses, and the ones next to me are someone who I don´t know who he is because he is covered in by some kind of wall (I don´t really know their names, so let´s call it wall), and the other one is fast asleep. Or drugged, I don´t know which one is true, so let´s say both.

I am still in fast read, when I hear it is visitation time.

_Shit_

What i am going to tell them when they visit me? Like, are you mad that I did what I did? Are you happy that I tried to do what i tried to do? I mean know I am not a saint now like you probably wanted me to do, but still, I am your son and I am the best I tried, and I tried and I failed and now i am _freaking _here, as you may see now, so-

"Hi" my mom says. She is happy to see me, for some reason, despite of what I did.

_I wouldn´t be happy to see me. _

"How have you been?", my brother Giovanni says. He is the only ones who I still now will love me despite of what I did. He is just like that, accepting, and kind of cool.

I am neither of those things.

"I have reading" I say smiling at them. _Why I am smiling though. Is it fake and I am monster and I am going to do something bad and I am going to die alone and die die die die._

_"_Yeah, I mean, mentally, you know?" he says again. He, my mother and my father are looking at me with pleading eyes, pleading me to see that for some reason i must live for myself, that i must be strong enough get over this and make of this a onetime occasion.

I don´t know if that will be true. I don´t really know anything of myself right now.

"I have hold up just fine, i think" I say "The guy who was next to me last night died" I tell them while smiling. _Why the heck I am smiling while saying that do i have something wrong with me?_

My mom a hand to his mouth. "Scon! That is absolutely not true. This is a fine hospital."

"That is not true mom. I heard it right next to me. His machine beeping, beeping, beeping, and then it stopped. His family visited him. They saw his body. You could ask any nurse here. Let´s ask Janet. JAN-"

My dad puts a hand in front of my mouth. "Shhh. No need to do that."

"...Okey, i guess" I say, less excited about the idea of talking about it now."

"Did you like the book?" My brother ask. "The one I bought, I mean"

"Did you buy "_Rebellion on the Farm" _or "_Jack´s Adventures on Peacekeeping"." _I shush him before he has any time to speak "I guess the first one, right?"

"Yeah." He says. That continues the sentence for him. "I bought the other one. Did you like that one?

"Yeah, I did like him, but then the only part I didn´t like that was when the suspect of the crime committed in the story because every was pestering him and telling him that he should die he tried to commit su-"

"Well, hello." The doctor says. He must be the doctor analyzing everything that happened to me for the day before and such. I didn´t know hospitals could be so clean, until I saw him and saw the cleanest person I had ever seen. He has no taint of ever having gotten into mud, or ever having just a spit on his face.

"How is he, doctor?" My mom asks him, like I am not here! _Hello. _

They start talking about everything that happened to me, and about the medical stuff i don´t understand. About the substances I took. Like it doesn´t say in my medical file now.

"Relax" my brother says. _How does he know I am upset. Is he a genius or is he just that cool?_

"I just..." I tell him while my parents are talking with Mr. Clean, "I don´t know if I will ever be happy, you know?"

"Shhh" He says hugging me. "It´s okay. You will be fine. You gotta be fine. You will be fine."

Will I? I tell him he is not the one who would know, but I tell him it is okay. That I will try to be fine, cause I gotta fine, and I will be fine.

At least he isn´t crying like he was crying when they found me. Like he cried, while my mom told me to vomit, and my father was calling through the phone of the house to the hospital.

I don´t wanna be like that anymore. But I don´t know if I will be strong enough to do so.

_Will I?_

I really don´t know if I will ever be okay. But I gotta try, right?

Maybe if I just try, everything will turn out okay.

* * *

_Hey, this is our new collab!. It will be on the style of "Changes" and "Rainbows and Storms". then, you can submit characters to us! They won´t have POVs, but they may be important to the plot, so you never know. _

_The main characters are mix of real us and fake us, so you might never know what is right and what it is not. _

_Every spot is open, except for the D4M and the D9M. _

_Submit all you want!_


	2. Announcement

_**President Fabian Hale**_

* * *

I open the wardrobe and pick out a pink, glittery dress shirt and rhinestone trousers. Yawning, I slowly put the covers back over Blandus and kiss his forehead – waking him from our daily nap. He rubs his eyes and smiles at me as he opens them slightly.

We often took naps and usually for longer, but I had an announcement to make in about an hour and I needed to prepare. I pat down my brown, raven short hair and make sure I look presentable to go down for lunch.

"Daddy!" Shouts Priscus, my five-year-old son, and my 14-year-old daughter (Livia) isn't far behind him.

"What have you guys been doing?" I ask and I pick up Priscus.

"We have been watching the 100th Hunger Games again." Replis Livia and I laugh,

"You love that twist, huh?" They both nod in sync.

The nanny rushes in and gives an apologetic nod, I hate the punishment of being avoxed but many disagree. I put some toast in the toaster and make myself some coffee, after all I don't need slaves. As soon as I hear the pop of the toast coming up, I grab some marmalade and place the toast on the plate, I then spread the marmalade over and start eating without sitting down.

"President Hale?" I turn and see my secretary, Jeannie, coming through the kitchen door. I quickly finish up my toast and usher her in.

"Jeannie, please. Call me Fabian."

"Sorry, Mr-. Fabian." I nod.  
"What do you need?"

"The Head Gamemaker would like to see you before the announcement."

"Ugh. Why can't I just spend time with my family! She always needs to talk to me blablabla." Jeannie looks at me funny but carries on, "The limo is waiting outside."

She leaves and I go into the living room to see my kids watching the bloodbath of the 100th Hunger Games.

"Kids, Daddy has to go." I tell them sorrowfully.

"But you were going to hang out with us and Daddy before the announcement!" Cries Livia in a bit of a bratty way.

"I know, I know. I am so sorry." I give her a big hug and pat Priscus' head, she sighs and Priscus doesn't tear his eyes off the screen as another cannon sounds. I smile and wave.

"Say bye to Daddy for me." I tell them as I reach the back door.

Outside awaits a limo and I greet the driver – Dane. Me and Dane have gone way back since I was vice president and he began to drive me around, a nice guy.

"'Ello there Fabian." He greets me back and I climb in. "So, an important announcement today? Or so I have heard." He asks while looking through the rear window at me.

"Yep."

"Suppose you could tell your hard-working driver, hm?" I laugh and shake my head.

"You will see it at the same time as everyone else, Dane." He huffs but in a joking way and then parks the limo.

"Here we are."

I walk into the tall glass building and I am immediately greeted with avoxes helping me with my coat.

"Hello, Mr Hale." Says the voice behind the reception and she points me towards Mrs Kell's office. Mrs Kell is a boring person in her appearance but in her mind and imagination she was wonderous and that's why she was our Head Gamemaker. She knows every way to make the audience enjoy The Hunger Games and goes full out every time. She jumps from her chair as I walk in.

"Mr Hale! How nice of you to come."  
"Of course, Lydia." Today she wore a simple grey blazer over a white shirt and some light green trousers, her brunette hair was tied behind her like a ponytail.

She begins to tell me about the arena and a few new Gamemakers on the team and after around 30 minutes she waves me off.

I reach the limo and climb in. Dane starts his small talk, but I blank him out, I hope The Capitol are okay with the twist. Finally, we make it home and I walk in.

"Fabian!" Shouts Jeannie, you are going on in 2 minutes. I am surprised but it doesn't stop me from being prepared. Hair and makeup quickly surround me and Jeannie ushers me out the front door.

I spread my arms in a welcoming way as I greet The Capitolites coming to see the announcement live along with live news reporters.

"Hello Capitol!" I boom into the mic and get a quick reaction of applause. "I am here today to announce something new I have added to the years HUNGER GAMES!" More applause and screams. "This year to make a more interactive experience for The Capitol and spread mercy across Panem…" Silence. "One tribute shall be voted out of The Games by The Capitol and there shall be 2 Victors!" I hear claps, boos and laughter. All The Capitol have their opinions but mine is the most important and that is not pride speaking, trust me I am a humble man.


	3. Reaping Day

_**Reaping Day**_

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Citizen (16**)_

* * *

I am drenched in tears because today is the day. The day I start my journey to death but worse the day I have to tell my family everything, before I die. I sit at the table after my warm bath and tell Ali and Mom that I need to tell them something when Dad comes down.

I play with my food slightly, tearing bits off of the toast and flicking them. Soon, Dad comes down to sit with us and I choke back a sob.

"Are you okay Wels?" Asks Mom and I nod-shrug.

"Um, alright. I have to tell you all something." I break down and flood with tears. My Mom and Dad stare at me, worried. Ali most likely heard the rumours, the true rumours.

"I have to volunteer…" Mom clasps her hands over her mouth and my Dad's eyes grow wide. Ali walks over to me and whispers to me,

"Now would be a good time to tell them." I knew what she was talking about but didn't say a word. "About Lukas and you."

"I know." I snap back and immediately regret it, hurt is in her eyes. "There's something else." My Mom and Dad look back at me – teary eyed. "I am bisexual, and I am dating my 'best friend' Lukas."

"That's ok honey." My Mom says but I can sense in her voice she is just saying it because I am going to die soon.

"I have to go… I will see you at the goodbyes."

I rush out the door, grabbing my coat on the way and rush to the training centre. It's true, that I know I will die in that arena but that will never stop me from trying. I knew me and Lukas wouldn't work, but that didn't stop me from trying. So, I have to try. For my family, friends and for my district.

"Hello!" Cries a cheery, quaint voice and I see a tanned, chestnut eyed girl. She looks around 18 and has wavy, brown hair that turned lighter in the daylight. Amara Sol. "I am Amar- "

"Amara Sol, yeah I know your name." She smiles politely.  
"I am guessing you know I am volunteering for the games."

"Mhm." I don't get it. Amara is rich and pretty well known, she has it all! Why would she volunteer?

"See you at the reaping!" I nod but I am annoyed. How could you be excited for such a horrific day?

I push the academy doors open and sign into the volunteer, private, training room.

"Hello, Alexander." I greet my trainer and he gives me a sad smile. Me and Alex have been working with each other over the couple weeks that I've been announced as male volunteer.

"It's our last day, now let's see you smash this dummy with these." He hands me two knives and I put one in my left and one in my right hand. I glare at the dummy and Alex shouts, "And… Go!" I run into the dummy and slash it swiftly and speedily; red ribbons fly out of it and I don't stop until the dummy is left on pieces on the floor. "Alrighty. Now, you won't need to take too much time on killing someone, or you may be stabbed in the back."

I nod, "I was just trying to show off." He laughs and so do I. I am not cocky, and I am no career but that doesn't mean I cannot murder someone without hesitation. Of course, I won't do it for fun but instead, I will do it to win.

After about 10 minutes of some final tips I bid farewell to Alex, I was going to miss him as I was going to miss everyone. Besides Nile, after all he is the one who got me into this shithole.

I head to Carrie's Café where I am supposed to meet Lukas and I see him waiting at a 2-person table. I sigh, "Sorry babe, have you been waiting long?"

"I would wait a millennium for you to fall into my arms." I laugh and punch him on the arm, and then take a seat.

"You little punk." I say but I don't mean it. He strokes my arm and I break down, "I don't know if I can do it."

"Not if you think like that."  
"Lukas you don't get it! I might have to kill a fucking 12-year-old. They are 12! They do not deserve to die."

"Are you going back to yours to change?"  
"No, no. I told my family everything, including about us. I won't see them until the goodbyes. Can I come back to yours? I have some clothes in my backpack." He nods and finishes up his tea.

We walk out hand-in-hand and he takes me towards his house. Lukas is pretty rich, and lives in a mansion.

"You home Lukas? How is Wels?" Shouts Mrs Slater – Lukas' Mom – from the kitchen.

"Why don't you come ask him?" Mrs Slater rushes into the lounge and pulls me into a tight hug. Unlike my parents the Slater's knew about me and Lukas and they had sort of been a second family to me through the years of me and Lukas being friends and not until recently, dating. "I am so sorry."

"Please, Mrs Slater don't apologise. You have done the best you can." She wipes her eyes with her handkerchief and let's go of me.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No, I am okay. I am going to get changed and then me and Lukas will be off." She nods solemnly and I head upstairs to Lukas' room. His room was filled with sports from all over The Capitol. Balls, posters and even his bed covers were sports. Such an unhealthy obsession but it made me like him just the more.

I open my backpack and take out my bright yellow, striped shirt and some jeans. I quickly slip off my training clothes and get into the outfit.

"Done!" I cry as I run down the stairs 2 at a time.

"Awww! As cute as ever." Lukas says and I feel my cheeks burn, he always made me blush. "Bye Mom! See you there."  
"Bye, honey!"

We walk along the gravel silently and after about an hour or 2 we make it to the centre of the district. We get in line along with the other kids and Lukas heads to the other line and says,  
"I will see you at the goodbyes." He has been acting a bit funny today I think but I'm interrupted, it's Amara.

"Hi Wels! Excited?" She asks with positivity.  
"Uhm. No."

"Same I am completely pissing myself!" She screams, all positivity is drained from her and then she clasps her hands over her mouth. "Oh my gosh- I am so sorry! Please, don't tell anyone I said p-i-s-s-i-n-g." She begs.

"Why were you acting excited before?" I question her, suspicious.

"Well I didn't want you to think I was weak, did I?"

"True."

I hear a cough behind me, and I realise I am at the front of the line.

"Name...?" The Peacekeeper asks.

"Wels Sal-Saltear." I hesitate slightly and it shows my nerves to an eagle-eyed Amara. I duck into the 16-year-old section and chew my nails, a habit I stopped long ago and had just recently reappeared.

Soon, the crowd begins to cheer as our mayor introduces the victors but most importantly my mentor Ames Marriot. He won the 107th Hunger Games and was-

"Hello, District 4!" Booms our new mentor – Tormenta Nadal. I believe she was promoted from 11. Tormenta has curly grey hair with light purple highlights and is wearing a sexualised black dress with bat like wings. Oh, she is going to be tough to be around and I can tell.

"Now, now! Firstly, we must watch a boring yet educational video before we get into the fun." The video plays and it's the same as every year. WAR TERRIBLE WAR! Blablabla. Who cares?

"Alright then! Ladies first, as always." She skips over to the female bowl and counts down, "3, 2, 1!" She picks a name. "Jule Cartchay!" Faster than I expected, Amara shouts,

"I volunteer!" And she rushes up the stage introducing herself.

"Wonderful to meet you Amara! Now, for your partner." Amara catches eye contact with me and smiles, wearily. She tediously picks a name and drops the countdown this time.

"Lukas Slater!"

"I volunte-." A pause. "Wait what, no!"

"I volunteer." I scream and run to the stage. I can't believe it; Lukas tried to volunteer and take my place, but he had been reaped. I stare at him and see tears in his eyes, this is why he was acting so funny. I was so lost in my own mind that I was surprised when Tormenta tapped me on the shoulder and told me to shake Amara's outstretched hand. I shake as I put my hand in hers and feel the sweat dripping down her palm.

"Happy Hunger Games, District 4!"

It was over and yet it was the beginning.

* * *

**_Scon Lavalle, District Nine Citizen (18)_**

* * *

I am a in a pit of bones now.

It`s not like what I did was a monstrosity, but still I am afraid if somebody knows what I have done, they wall tear me down or apart. And I don't want that.

I don`t want that at all.

It is like my own body is betraying, and telling I am a huge bastard for what I did, but a bastard who must tell other people that he is a bastard.

So i do. I tell him how bad I felt, how terrible of a person I was, how bad I feel with myself about this, how bad I was, and still am, and how maybe nothing will cure himself quickly. I tell him I am ashamed of myself, of what I have done, of what I did and what I have become after what I have done.

It is not like he will still support me, right?

"It is okay, Scon. It is okay" he tells with his soothing voice. His face stares as the sunshine goes into it, and I smile. I smile because he is the only one who truly understands me at the moment, the, the only one who I feel talks me even after what I have done.

He asks me if I am seeing a doctor and going to therapy for it. I tell him that yes, I am. I feel little embarrassed while he talks about it, and while I do too. But it is only because I still feel people that people who go to therapy are sickos and losers.

I mean, its not like I think people who are weird are the only ones who go. Soldiers, people with a lot of stress, people who believe they are the worst. I am in the third category, and that's why I think I am the way I am with therapy. That I believe I am a psycho. Because only people who are truly evil have the right to hate themselves.

As i and Guille hug, and I feel his embrace, I cannot help myself from feeling awkward. It is being ages since I hugged him first, when first became friends, and every time that spark is still in my heart.

I know he doesn't feel the same, and that's why I never tell my heart to speak up. I would never say my feelings out, in the line that he would probably, while still being friendly to me, stop being a close friend.

He stays with me for a long time there, here in the fields. We talk till the sun is down. And I feel fine.

For the first time in ages, I feel fine.

It`s been six months since I did what I did. It is Reaping Day too.

I am in bed, and still haven't moved from it. Not because I am depressed today, but because I am being lazy.

_I can do this, _I think to myself. I quickly get up and move from my messed up bed, and get to myself to do something.

I go to the living to find my brother Lucky in the living room.

"Hey, how are you?" I say in my most pleasant voice.

"Shut the fuck up" He says as he continues to play in the computer the government of the Capitol gave the little kids. For a twelve year old, he is seemingly mean and such.

_We are off to a great start I guess_

He leaves the site and goes to the bathroom, only for Giovanni to come out of his room.

"Hi" he says, waving at my like I haven't seen him for a long time and he is from a distance from me.

It is, metaphorically that way. I barely seen him any day because he is busy working for the mayor, and spends all the

day in campaign, but who needs campaign when we live by the Capitol rules. They will obviously will election anyways.

But who I am to say. I am no political character. My characterization does not fit politics.

I sometimes think I am in a book or one of those Capitol things they pass on the internet. How do they call him? Series?

Oh yeah that. They are called like that.

Giovannni sits in the table while I make coffee for him and tea for me. I don't drink coffee anymore since I discovered it

gives me insomnia and anxiety.

I don`t want that at all. I want to be safe and happy. Why can't I both? I can always be either one, but not other.

"Mom is off visiting her friends, and dad is off with grandma." Gio tells me when I ask him.

"And you are off to your friends later, right?" I question

"Maybe" Always with his maybe. Gio is always like that. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

I should be off to my friends, so I finish my tea and get ready.

I was walking to the reaping with Guile, May, Renny and Arty. They are not the best friends with each other, and neither with the others (Guille and Arty are from one group of friends, and May and Renny of other), but they are friends, and I asked them for them for today to join me. Maybe it was pity that they accepted to be all together, but still.

Renny and May are talking with one another, while Arty and Guille are talking with each other.

"I think that you should to D3 and study psychology May."

"But I will miss my cats though." May has this cat aura. She has three cats, she has the personality of a cat, all whole detached and such, but has the fears of a human being. Bad combinations though.

Renny is different. I would say she is more of a dog, but a homey dog who arrives late everywhere. Like those old dogs that my friend Gil had before he moved to D5 to study Law.

I am thankful President Fabian is a nice man after all. The rumors I have heard of him, that he is a ruthless man weren't true after all.

"Do you wanna play Pancraft after this, Guille?" Arty says to him. Arty is who he is and I respect for it. He is guy who would rather play videogames than go to a party, and I appreciate having someone who I can do calm things with.

"I would rather go running, don't ya think?" Guille tells him.

We continue to walks for a bit, until we get to the plaza square where the reaping are held.

And then she appears. My worst nightmare. The woman that terrorizes my dreams and nightmares, the one who will probably make me end up dead on the side of the road some day. The worst bully I have ever had.

Kasha _fucking _Spelt

"What are you doing, _fucking _twats?" She says while pushing me to the ground.

"Hey!" Guille says, while Kasha's "friend" Teff stars stopping them from helping me.

"Now who is gonna leave who broken and damaged, _huh_?"

Its not my fault I dumped her a long time ago. It happened when I were thirteen were eleven and she still is angry at me

about it. I guess because she is an orphan and doesn't have family things are harder for her, but still.

As she throws insults at me, I can do both but stay in the floor, with her kicking my ass. I just cannot move and feel I deserve those punches. I deserve the beatings, and I deserve being hit.

I see the peacekeepers walk by and do nothing about it. Are they really that evil?

"You are a loser and everybody hates you!" That may be true.

"You are better off dead and should have killed yourself!" Even a part believes _that _may be true.

"Your brother is a loser and-

As she falls to the ground from my kick in her vagina, I take the opportunity to start beating her. I don't care she is a girl, she deserves for being the way she is.

"NOBODY. TALKS. SHIT. ABOUT. MY. BROTHER!"

As I am still punching her, and the peacekeepers finally arrive, I can but see my friends at their eyes. They look scared, not only of the situation, but for me and for their own safety.

I start running to the reaping center, trying to avoid them and their calls for me.

After getting my finger pinched I get into the line. I wait for the reaping to starts quietly, like I almost always do.

After the mayor gives his boring speech about treason and loyalty to the Capitol, the escort takes his place.

It`s an old escort for the district, having been here for ten years. Clementia has been here for that time, but he is a good man and I believe he can do best with what he has.

This time he has presented himself in a living dead costume, most likely from that movie _Fighting the Living Dead. _He is in various trays of dirt, or fake dirt most likely, and in a pale tan.

"Okey guys. I may be living dead here, but you can do your best and bring back one of you, okay?" He is always trying to make us try our best, but we fail most of the time. We still try though.

"Also, I think the mayor forgot to say, but Birra Daster is ill, so another victor will mentor these year tributes." That can be a little weird. She is only alive victor, so I don't know what will we do without her. "That victor has selected to make his identity anonymous until last point, so we won't say who he is"

So he is a he. Who may it it the newest victor from six, Gavriel Asterion? Who?

"Let`s start with the girls"

Clementia moves to the female bowl and grabs a paper of a name very, very slowly. It`s like watching a cow move, so damn slow.

"The name is….Kasha Spelt!

A smile comes over my face as Kasha steps out of the sixteen year old line, with a lion`s anger like. She shoves every peacekeeper on her way to the stage and I help but laugh. She so deserves it.

_That is karma, bitch_

"Shhhhh!" The guy next to me says. "It could be you next"

"Oh please, I just have 7 papers with my name in there." I tell him "It cannot be possibly my name there"

"Scon Lavalle!"

_SHIT_

I feel all eyes over me, as every steps away from me as I start to hyperventilate.

_I can't do this I am gonna die I am gonna die die die die die die die. _

Thoughts spread to my mind as I start walking to the stage, my eyes teary, and fucking Kasha smiling over my doom.

_Fuck her. I am gonna kill her my bare hands and gonna destroy her I am gonna-_

"Would you like to say something before shaking hands?"

"No!" We both say at the same time.

As we are force to shake hands, I cannot but see my parents and Gio. They are all crying, and I can help but start crying because they are doing so.

_They care?_

_Didn`t know that._

* * *

_Hope you liked the chapter guys! Waiting for your submissions to appear_


	4. Goodbyes

**_Goodbyes _**

* * *

**_Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)_**

* * *

The goodbyes room is atrocious.

Not only because of what has happened, but also because of the furniture there.

Almost nothing there is comparable to this. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

I hate having to be patient to say goodbye to the people I love. I shouldn't be made to wait here on this _freaking _room and shouldn't be kept waiting here like a

burglar. I am a good person and I don't deserve this!

_Or maybe you do_

No, gotta keep those emotions at bay.

_Or maybe not_

Shut the fuck up brain, you are a loser.

_Now who is calling himself a loser, huh_

Ugh, just leave me alone would you?

_Never_

How can I survive after this? How can I survive a battle with 23 other people for surviving death? How can I do that? Is there a way to get out of this? Is there a way to do everything I can to get out of this?

How can I do this?

The door opens and my family arrives. My mum is angry, and my dad is too, but my mother is more, probably from having to share a room with my father. They separated a long time ago and she is still angry at him for several stuff. Gio is crying and Lucky is just confused, or at least he appears that way.

"Scon… why did this happen?"

"I don`t know" Is the only thing I can tell her. It's not like I can rig the readings myself, and even if I did it to die, it wouldn't work. No one would want to rig a useless person like me.

"Scon, we love you" My dad tells me

"I love you too" Is the only thing I can say. I am weak right now, and from now I cannot bare being weak. It`s being strong, or else, I will die.

"Scon… try your best. Please" Gio says.

"I will" I don't know if I will, but I must try. It`s the only way to survive.

Lucky just nods. I nod back. It`s the way we communicate when we stuff like this happens, and I believe from him it`s more deep from him because he usually isn't that responsive with me.

Then the peacekeepers come, and I have to say goodbyes, Real goodbyes, I don't know if I will come back alive, but I will and have to try.

My grandma comes in, and she is barely able to tell me what she wants to tell me before we say goodbye. She is very unhealthy these days. Maybe if I win I can bring her the money for her to be alive for longer.

Maybe.

My aunt and uncle and cousins come in, and go out in a second. My aunt wishes me good luck, and then she leaves. I like her but we aren't that connected yet.

Guille and the guys come in next. He and Arty are very saddened about the events, but can we do? Renny and May are there too, but as they are the eldest I think they have some kind of sense of responsibility on how do things. How not to cry about other`s people affairs and problems.

They must be overwhelmed at what I did before the reaping, because I sense a bit a coldness and anger behind that sadness. I don`t know what to say to them right now, but here we are, at the end of doom.

My other friends, Tim, Gina and Lucille also visit me. I will really miss that dumb shit Tim, he is very nice but he is a shit. Gina is in love with someone who doesn`t love her back (that person being Lucy), so she won`t miss me back. Lucy will just move on, that is her personality.

I don`t expect visits from Herman or Zoella, and I don`t get them. I am right in not expecting anything from them.

It`s the end of the road for me here. I am going to a death match, with aa high chance of dying. I know I should be positive, but how can you expect me to positive between all this mess?

The peacekeepers guarding my door are there, and now they are telling me to leave the room. I aim to please, so I follow his orders and commands and I do as they say.

It`s difficult me being here, going to an eternal and not wonderful death, but who am I kidding? How I am gonna do this? How am I gonna make it? How I am gonna survive?

It is already difficult enough for me to survive common day stuff, how I am going to survive a death battle match between 24 people, incluiding me.

God, this is atrocious. Kasha is there, at the door of her goodbye room, probably the bitch had more probably visting her than I did, even though she is a orphan. She seems better than I am in every way and I hate it completely, utterly and horrificly.

She smiles

"How is pretty dead boy?"

"Don`t call me dead _Kash_."

"Don`t you dare call me Kash!" She screams, bothering the peacekeepers all the way through. "That`s what my mother used to call me…"

I reiterate "_Kash_, you can`t know that. They died when you were three."

"I _fucking_ remember, thank you very much. I have a great memory, in case you didn`t know."

"Yeah, I didn`t know. If I did, I probably wouldn't have broken up with you."

She looks at me with an almost murdering gaze and then looks the other way.

As we board the train and peacekeepers leave for other wagons, I can say that the mobile is very satisfaying.

Or at least the food is. Clementia leds us into the dining room, where we start filling our mouths and bodies with food. It`s not like I can try to do things in a good way, but I feel like I need to eat seeing all this damn good food. My brother would kill me for eating meat, but fuck him.

I turn around to Clementia, with only one question in my mind.

"Where`s the bathroom, sir?"

He smiles at me for no apparent reason.

"Aren`t you gonna ask me who your mentor is going to be?"

"Meh." I say

An unknown voice fills the air "Well, well, _well. _Look who got here."

I knew it. I should have known it would be him. Goddamit.

"Hello" He says. "My name is Tiano Lasletto and I will be your mentor."

* * *

_I need to keep myself in check. I need to not attack anyone else, I say to myself. It`s another day of school and you can keep yourself in check…_

"_Look, here is the Butter Scum!" one of my classmates say. He is in line for an ass kicking if he doesn`t shut up. _

"_Manos de Manteca, manos de Manteca!" __They say to me, all over the day. The teacher, Arty's mom, does nothing. _

_Tiano, the shortest guy in class, comes to me. "Scon went to the bathroom and left a smell, clauged the bathroom and left it broken, did you do it Scon?"_

"_No, I did-didn`t", I say with my usual stuttering. _

"_Scon did it!" They say in their most stupid ways and tones. _

_I am gonna break his neck, I am gonna end him!_

_I start walking towards him, but Beatrice, the teacher, blocks my way. _

"_Don`t be violent Scon, how many times do we have to tell you that?"_

"_So many times." I say already too much tired of not being able to fight back. _

"_Good boy" she says, like if I were a dog. I look at her son with disdain and be prepared to snipe back if he says anything. _

"_Scon is a loser, Scon is a loser!" he says over and over and over again, every single day passing way making me angrier. _

_I hate this llfe. _

* * *

I was happy as hell the day Tiano had to move to District Two, but now he is here? Goddamnit,

"Well, look who is here. Mister Scon Lavalle and Ms Kasha Spelt. What are the odds of us meeting here"

"Hi, Tiano" I say in my less elegant way possible.

"Hi, butter Scum"

I try to distant myself from the attacks i have always received, but i can´t. It´s like i am on a disease and it keeps damaging me every single time.

"I sense an alliance forming between you two..." he says

Kasha and I look at each other for a moment, and then we start laughing tremendously and loudly.

Then Tiano glares at us. It´s not my fault he won the games at thirteen year old and he thinks he is better than me because of it.

"Oh, you are serious." Kasha says.

"Yes. You should ally with each other right now and start planning together how to survive."

I start to open my mouth to complain, but he shuts it. "And if you don´t, you aren´t getting any sponsors from me."

I glare at Tiano intensely, but it is the only thing I can do.

"Well, let´s go watch the reapings recap, shall we?"

* * *

**Chapter question: What do you think of Scon? And what about Kasha, Tiano and Clementia?**

_Hey, time to submit is running out, and if we don´t get full submissions soon, we will create our own tributes. Just a warning for you guys to submit._

_-Santiago and James_


	5. Reaping Recaps

**_Reaping Recaps_**

* * *

**_Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)_**

* * *

Ames was worse than thought, all he talks about is his kills. _I slit their throat and stabbed them,_ ugh! I had honestly had enough and decided to take a seat next to Amara's mentor Sirena Malise, the Victor of the 97th Hunger Games, to watch the reaping recaps. Amara slides in next to me and Ames beside her, mission accomplished. Tormenta looks at the full couch and sits on a sofa chair beside it.

Sirena picks up the remote and un pauses the recaps, starting at District 1.

"Riley Parsival!" Is called and a short girl shuffles from the 12 year-old-section and is immediately pushed back in by a tall blonde hair with blue eyes and freckles – who had pushed out the 17-year-old section.

She is shouting, "I volunteer!" As she runs up beside her escort, looking smug and prepared.

"What is your name?" Asks the escort, as Tormenta scoffs at her appearance, clearly jealous.

"Charlotte Haddox but you can call me Charlie."

"Well let's take a look at who your district partner will be, Charlie." She cries and walks towards the male bowl.

"Kishan Steele!" A lanky and acne faced teen is quickly replaced by a muscular 18-year-old with a faint beard, dark spiky hair and hazelnut eyes.

"Another volunteer!" Laughs the escort and Tormenta rolls her eyes,  
"Surprise, surprise!" She said and the escort asks for the name of the boy.  
"Reginus Oldor, the future victor of the 117th Hunger Games." He booms and District 2 switches on.

The escort picks from the bowl of females and picks out a name.  
"Kaira Torson." She screams, excitedly and a middle-aged girl barely makes it out her pen before the words, 'I volunteer' are screamed. Another 18-year-old, with long brown hair and light chestnut eyes, rushes up to the stage and doesn't let the escort ask her name before she says,  
"Domitia Haymes."  
"Domitia!" Screams the escort and there is a round of applause before she frolics over to the male bowl.

"Mack Torfil." She says but, knowing there is a volunteer, she says it less enthusiastically. Right on time, I think as a 17-year-old boy volunteers. He looks slightly like Lukas, with his brown spiky hair, blue eyes and a fair bit of stubble on his chin but Lukas has less bushy eyebrows and, is slightly smaller. "And what is your name?"

"Lukas Slade." My eyes grow wide, this boy will be another reminder of my home sickness and what's worse is he is a career. What if this boy killed me?

I switch off my train of thought as District 3 starts and unlike 1 and 2, they look miserable. Their escort has an unpleasant smile on his face and Tormenta cackles,  
"Yessss! That son of a bitch got stuck with 3." Ames glares at her and she apologises.

"Alright, ladies first." He sighs and walks over to the female bowl.

"Cliomera Hexton." Yet, another 18-year-old clumsily, stumbles out of her pen with an awkward smile stretched across her face. She has bouncy brown hair and deep brown, eyes and attempts a sort of wave gesture before putting her hand back down. "Male." Says the escort and drags himself over to the male bowl.

"Byken March." Suddenly, a 13-year-old boy begins to cry and gasps as someone volunteers for him. It's a 14-year-old and he hugs Byken as he makes his way up to the stage, he has spiky brown hair and blue eyes, he is fairly tall.

"Jackob Leant but I hate that name, so call me Jack." He seems slightly annoying, not someone I'd ally with.

Then, I see Tormenta's smiling face and realize it's District 4. She skips to the female bowl and pulls a slip.

"Jule Cartchay!" Just like that Amara volunteers and then it's my turn.

"Lukas Slater!" Cries Tormenta and the camera zooms onto Lukas' face, realizing he couldn't volunteer.

"I volunteer!" I hear myself scream and I push myself out of the crowd, my eyes glistening with tears. I looked weak. Then, I realize I am crying and wipe my tears away.

District 5 looks as depressing as always and I stare back at the frowning kids. The escort makes do with what district she got and runs over to the female bowl.

"Andromeda Wells!" Cries the escort and a confused looking 18-year-old makes her way up to the stage. She has blue eyes, freckles and soft brown hair.

"Hi, Andromeda." The escort greets her with a hug and she, awkwardly, returns it.

"Now let's go to the male bowl." She lets go of the hug and walks over to the male bowl. Taking out a slip she reads, "William Phan." A pursed lipped 13-year-old scrambles up the stage and tears escape his eyes as he stands there.

District 6 appears next and the escort starts right away at the female bowl.

"Jessika Shull." He says and a brown eyed and haired 18-year old confidently strides to the stage, standing beside the escort.

"And now the male." Says the escort, putting no effort into the excitement. "Zack Badguy." He says and Amara giggles at his name, as an 18-year-old makes his way to the stage. He is quite pale and has straight-ashy blonde hair and green eyes. He doesn't look surprised but not confident either.

It jumps to District 7 and the escort brushes down her yellow dress, before rushing off to the female bowl.

"Um, let's see. Acacia, Acacia Woods?" Almost immediately after, a blonde girl with hazel eyes starts screaming in the 18-year-old pen and punching everyone around her with rage. Two peacekeepers grab hold of her, and she kicks a 12-year-old in the stage before reaching the stage. The escort laughs nervously and walks to the male bowl, "Mator Forwood."

"I volunteer!" Screams a boy and grins, as he rushes to the stage, he was 16 and had, short hair and a missing arm. "I'm Kareen Zepick." He cries and gets little applause.

District 8 comes, and the escort squints her eyes at the crowd, shaking her head.

"I'm doing males first because I am original." She sides steps to the male bowl and plucks a name. "Erick Ko-bay-ashi." She spells his name out for her pronunciation benefit and a calm 16-year-old walks to the stage. He has dark brown, almost black, hair and brown eyes, he has a slight beard and moustache, along with a hooped earing on his left ear.

"Next is the female." She cries, getting into it. "Holland Brown."

A smiling 15-year-old takes the stage. She has short pink hair and slightly tanned skin, along with brown eyes.

The TV moves on to District 9 and their escort slowly, takes out a name.

"The name is…Kasha Spelt!" She cries and a sixteen-year-old with long, brown hair and brown eyes pushes Peacekeepers as she reaches the stage. Note: don't get on her bad side. The escort runs over to the male section and smiles at the crowd before picking a name.

"Scon Lavalle!" She shouts and a boy with spiky brown hair and light blue eyes clambers to the stage, eyes teary. Kasha smirks as he makes his way to the stage.

It suddenly, cuts to District 10 and the escort makes an attempt at pleasing the district.

"Now let's have some fun and pick our female tribute, hey?" No sound is heard, and the escorts goes ahead and reaches into the bowl anyway. "Melliora Niskon!" She cries and a 15-year old slowly walks to the stage, straight-faced and looking forward. She pushes her fingers through her short brown hair, and she has deep, brown eyes. She stands beside the escort and the escort squeals, then moves onto the male bowl. "Gael Yule!" She screeches and her voice slightly cracks. A bearded boy with sky blue eyes and spiky brown hair stands beside the escort.

District 11 comes on and I can't help but feel sadness as the crying children stare back at me. The escort stares blankly at the crowd and rolls his eyes.

"Alright, we are going to start with female." He says bluntly as he reaches the female bowl and pulls a name.

"Hmm, Pansy Ward." A short 14-year-old scrambles to the stage, she didn't look like a typical District 11 girl. She has pale, olive skin, hazel eyes, long brown hair and freckles on her nose. The escort sighs, obviously disappointed, and goes to the male bowl.

"Mortel Yeux." He says and a tall skinny boy climbs out from the 18-year-old section. His skin is dark, and he has piercing brown eyes, with jet black hair. He walks hesitantly but confidently to the stage and stands beside the escort.

Finally, District 12 flicks on and the escort is smiling, meakly. She looks as if she had been crying.

"Ha! That's the lady who escorted District 2 last year!" What a horrible demotion, I think, and she picks a slip from the female bowl,  
"Uh, um. Briar Rossen." She sniffs and I can't help but laugh along with Tormenta, about how stupid these Capitolites are. A 14-year-old girl with tangled brown hair and wide, brown eyes goes beside the escort, breathing heavily. The escort glares at her, annoyed, and crosses her fingers for better luck with the male. "Chickadee Toulson." There is some shuffling around in the 14-year-old section and a boy with static black hair and brown eyes somberly walks up to the stage, almost zombie like. The escort begins to sob and me and Tormenda laugh again.

I stand from my seat and make my way to my room with a sigh. I'm going to take a bath and then settle down for the night, I have a long day ahead of me.

* * *

The SYOT is full, thanks for everyone who submitted!

D1F: Charlotte "Charlie" Haddox, 17 (spaceMars)

D1M: Reginus Oldor, 18 ( 20)

D2F: Domitia "Tia" Haymes, 18 (Juud108)

D2M: Lukas Slade, 17 (Tyquavis)

D3F: Cliomera "Clio" Hexton, 18 (Idalove2read)

D3M: Jackob "Jack" Learnt, 14 (CarrotLord)

D4F: Amara Sol, 18 (LordShiro)

D4M: Wels Saltear, 16 (IIJamesII)

D5F: Andromeda Wells, 18 (A River of Ink)

D5M: William Phan, 13 (Idalove2read)

D6F: Jessica Shull, 18 (AlexFalton)

D6M: Zack Badguy, 18 (sherazade98)

D7F: Acacia Woods, 18 ( 20)

D7M: Kareen Zepick, 16 (CarrotLord)

D8F: Holland Brown, 15 (Zacksteel)

D8M: Erick Kobayashi , 16 (Tyquavis)

D9F: Kasha Spelt , 16 (MistyCharming)

D9M: Scon Lavalle, 18 ( 20)

D10F: Melliora Niskon, 15 (Paradigm of Writing)

D10M: Gale Yule, 17 (Juud108)

D11F: Pansy Ward, 14 (sherazade98)

D11M: Mortel Yeux, 18 (sherazade98)

D12F: Briar Rossen, 14 (Jade-Warrior)

D12M: Chickadee "Dee" Toulson, 14 (LordShiro)

See you soon!

-James and Santiago


	6. Train Rides and Arrivals

**_Train Rides and Arrival to the Capitol_**

* * *

**_Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)_**

* * *

I definitely didn´t like this.

Well, i liked some of it, that´s it, but still. I mean, how could I not like the food. It´s amazing abundant, and it feels the void I feel every day now for a little bit.

But it isn´t enough. Because a little bit (or too much in my case) won´t fill it.

Also because i am being sent to a death match with 23 other people, just because of something that over one hundred years ago. One hundred seventeen years ago to be exact.

God, why does it have to happen to me? Is it because I am a bad person and i am mean and ugly and stupid and horrible? Is it because of that? I can´t handle, and i don´t think I will.

A hear a knock in my door. I guess either Kasha or Tiano want to humiliate a bit more I guess.

"You can open the door!" I yell from my bed, which I would find very comfortable if it weren´t for the facts I said before.

"Hi, Scon" It´s Clementia. He seems like the most rational of the people here (including me) and he is a capitolie, so that´s saying much.

"Hi" I say "Did Tiano send you here?"

"Well, no. I mean, yes" I scoff. "So you are like my mentor because he doesn´t want to teach me anything?"

"I don´t think that is what is happening" He says. God, now I have to put up with him too? God.

"I am trying to help you, Scon" He says in his boring tone

"Yeah, and I am not going to die in this freaking games."

"See, there is that optimism you need!" I hit myself in the head because of his idiotic behavior.

"Look, you need help, and no else will help you now. _I _am trying to help you here, so you could be more reasonable and understand that I am trying to help win this. You don´t want to end up forgotten like those other dead kids from the previous years before, so could help me you and I a win?"

Wow. He is smarter than what he appears to be? I don´t know if I should laugh from nervousness or be intrigued by it.

I decide to plug the knife in

"Why should I trust you?" I say "You are from the Capitol. Those people want me dead for their own entertainment. Do you understand that? They want me D-E-A-D, DEAD. Why should I trust you?

He shakes for a moment and then starts speaking again. "That-That´s not true. The Capitol wants to help you become your better self and help the districts become better and-

"Do you even hear yourself? Do you think that´s helping? Sending their children to death?"

"It teaches them a lesson about punishment and-

"Punishment! Oh dear lord, do we know about punishment. Punishment is serving for retards who think that it is okay to send people to their deaths just because something that happened over a century ago."

Clementia looks at me for a second… and he starts crying.

"Why you got to be so mean?!"

"Oh, emmm" And I start saying what I always do when I upset someone (which is a lot of times)

"I am sorry, okay? I am a bad person and I bad and mean things to others, and when I don´t do anything bad, it´s because I am saying bad stuff. I am ugly and stupid and I don´t deserve anything good. I am ignorant and dubious and I am the worst person in the world, okay? So could you please forgive me?

Clementia just storms off running, leaving me and my loneliness together once again.

* * *

At dinner, things are awkward.

The silence is astonishing. Clementia doesn´t want to talk to me because of what happened. Kasha doesn´t want talk to me because of the obvious, and I am not sure I want to talk to her. Meanwhile, I definitely don´t want to talk to Tiano. So the silence leaves to my thoughts.

How I am going to do survive? Will I be able to survive? Is it possible for me to make it through this? Am I going to die? _How _I am going to die? Oh god, I am going to die and the career from district one is going to dismember me, piece by piece? Oh god oh god oh god oh god.

"So, how is your alliance going?" Tiano, you bastard. I am tear you limb from limb if you continue like that.

"Pretty good" Kasha says. _What are you planning girl? _"We have been going over some strategy stuff, right, Scon?" She says looking at me deeply.

Oh, I guess I know where this is going.

"Yeah, we have been overseeing who we want to ally. I want to look over the D10M and the D8M, but I don´t quite recall who Kasha wanted to ally. Could you remind me, _Kash?" _

She looks at me for a second with a hatred I only can see, and then she answers:

"Oh yeah, I think I wanted the D8F, the D10F and the D5F. I also think you wanted the little boy from Five?"

"The blind guy?" Tiano says, incredulous.

"Oh yeah" I say. "For pity sponsors, you know what I mean?"

"I thought you were the one who had pity were you, _Scony?" _

"Yeah, I had pity on him, but he could be useful, you know"

Tiano puts up his hands and tries to bring his own order at the table.

"Well, I think we should all calm down and-

"Or, we could try to kill the careers during the bloodbath, right Kash?"

"Oh, yeah. That is a fun idea. We could try to go just the two of us, on our own, against six careers. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Or, we could-"

"Try to fuck up the gamemakers?"

"Yeah. What could even go wrong in there?"

"I think it is best if you don´t ally with each other." Tiano says, finally giving up.

"Oh no, my precious ally" I say

"Oh no, my dear friend" She says, continuing the act till the end.

"Yeah. You seem to turn stupid when it is just the two of you, so it is better if you just stay separated."

"It´s okay" We say unison.

* * *

That night, I pass by Kasha´s room.

"Hey, great job today, Kasha."

She doesn´t respond.

"I think we make a great non-team, you know?" I say "I think, if it weren´t for our mutual hate towards the others, we would make a fantastic duo."

She doesn´t respond,

"Hey, Kasha, hey?"

"KASHA GODDAMIT"

She still doesn´t respond

"Oh, you are sleeping. I will leave you to it"

* * *

_I am at my house. Alone, for the first time in years. It´s all peace and quiet and it´s all cool._

_Then, I hear the alarm go off, and the house starts feeling itself up with eggs. It´s Tiano, Kasha and Teff, all over me, kicking me, telling me mean stuff and telling me I will die, because I am bad and mean and ugly and nobody loves me. _

_I have let them in. I have let the monster in. I am the monster, and they are me. _

_Oh god. I start crying, I can´t handle this anymore. Why don´t I do anything to stop them? Why I am like this?_

"_You are loser. LOSER" Kasha tells me_

"_Yeah, and a stupid bisexual boy who nobody will ever love" Teff says_

_Tiano them looks at me stoically and says "You are going to die"_

_And then I scream. Oh god, I scream._

* * *

I wake up crying. I can´t cry anymore. I have to be a man do the right thing to survive.

I change my clothes to the one the capitol gave me, and then I go to lounge of the train.

There I see it. The capitol in its majesty. It seems magical, beautiful. It seems impossible, but it exists and-

"It´s a bunch of crap"

Oh dear Kasha, how wrong you are.

* * *

**_Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)_**

* * *

Tormenta presses number 4 in the elevator, as we all squish in and the doors close behind us. I've always liked elevators, but now I suddenly felt claustrophobic and uncomfortable. I let out a sigh of relief as the elevator doors open and we trail inside our new, temporary, home. I gasp, as does Amara and we head inside the lounge. There is a major TV and plenty of comfy sofas, at least one for each of us, but I don't care about the lounge and ask Sirena,

"Excuse me, where is my room?" She points down a hallway.

"It's the one on the left, I think you'll like it." She smiles and winks at me as I thank her. Why did I have to get stuck with Ames, while Amara has Sirena? Just some more of my crap luck.

I stop in the doorway and marvel at what stood in front of me. A king-sized bed, a TV all to myself, a walk in closet, and blue colored walls.

"Wow, nice room!" Amara says, peering over my shoulder. This probably wasn't much to a rich girl like her, but to me? This was like heaven, and that wasn't an over exaggeration.

"Take a shower. You stink." Laughs an unhelpful Ames. I glare at him and close my door at his face. Although, I hate admitting Ames is right, I do need a shower. I walk into the bathroom and start to try to work the shower but it's quite complicated. Finally, I turn a tap and get splashed with cold water, and my clothes become wet. I curse and throw my clothes off, finally, I figure out how to change the temperature of the shower and drench myself in the warmth. There were various soaps and shampoos that I am dying to check out, but I know it's not long until I need to get ready for the chariot rides and I settle on a peppermint bodywash and strawberry shampoo. Unfortunately, both smelt extremely artificial, but it still felt nice.

I turn the knob to the shower, and it turns off. I find a nice white towel and soak up all the water from my body, before returning it too it's peg. I walk into my closet and use Sirena's advice to choose something that was easy to slip off. I would be uncomfortable to be standing in front of a bunch of stylists in my underwear, but I'd have to live with it. I choose a yellow vest top and some light blue jeans. I hear a knock at my door.

"Yes?" I ask and Tormenta answers me back,  
"We are going!" She screeches and I slip on some sandals.

I head into one room, followed by Tormenta, and Amara foes to another with Sirena. Ames is, obviously, too lazy to do his job and sits outside.

"Strip, please." Says one of the 4 ladies that greet me as I walk in. I hesitantly strip until I am left in my underwear.

"And the underwear." Whispers Tormenta and my eyes bulge. I don't want these women staring at my naked body! "Now." Tormenta urges and I roll my eyes, giving in.

"Oh my! You're hairy, aren't you?" Cries one of the stylists and the others laugh along.

"Isn't everyone?" The stylist raises her eyebrow.

"I am Kiwiki." The green-haired one says. "Now, just lay down there." She points to a table type thing and I follow along. She pulls out some waxing tape and says, "this might hurt."

They wax me and trim my hair for about an hour and, finally, pull out my costume. A mermaid tail and a trident. I sigh,

"Seriously?"

"Mhm!"

I, unwillingly, put it on.


	7. Chariot Rides

_**Chariot Rides**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

Ugh I hate this costume.

I mean I don´t hate it as much as I thought I would, but I still hate it. Why do I have to be a fricking farmer? I mean, I know we are District Nine and we can´t get a lot of costumes due to our industry, but still, it sucks to be a farmer.

Everyone back home will see it and mock me. It is what is going to happen, and that´s it. I know it

Calandrea said i look cool, but i am not inclined to believe her. She seems a bit nutcase, like most Capitol people seem.

How weird that one day I had dreamed of becoming one of them, another stylist. It was clearly a stupid dream, considering what is happening now.

As i step onto the platform, I can see the other tributes chattering with their mentors and the other tributes.

The District Ten Female, Melina (I think her name was that?) Is chatting with Briar from District Twelve. Kasha, who I hadn´t noticed wasn´t in the chariot, is talking with the girls from Eight and Seven. The boy is Seven, meanwhile, is talking to the careers from Two? Wow, he either has a death wish or confidence to punch a brick wall and break it.

The boys from Three, Five and Twelve are also talking, while the girl from Three is talking to the girl from Five. The boy from Eight approaches them, and he joins the conversation.

Why is everyone already trying to ally with someone? Don´t they understand we are in a death match? And that if we don´t do something soon, everyone but one will most likely die? God, how much I-

"Hi" It´s then I notice the boy next to my chariot. It´s the boy from Ten.

_Quick, brain, think, what´s his name!_

"I´m Gael." The boy from the other district says. "Gael Yule"

"Hi" I say. "I am Scon. Scon Lavalle, but some people think of me and the "big Scony". I mean, not much people, but some do, right? You get?" _Oh god he is so hot. Wait, why i am about his hotness? We are in a death match goddamnit! I shouldn´t think like that. Well, if he wasn´t so hot i wouldn´t think like that, brain._

_But what if he tries to kill now? What if he is a psycho and his hotness is just there to cloud my intelligence. Ha! You are not going to kill me, young man. I am much smarter than you!_

"I was just wondering-" He tries to speak but then it´s announced that all tributes must go to their chariots at this point and prepare for the parade. Gael waves goodbye and leaves, and in almost the same moment, Kasha arrives.

"Who was that?" asks her

"Nobody of your business" I say to her.

She hops on the chariot and after a while the horses start walking.

While i try to distract from Gael´s appearance, and the possibilities of it, I hear what the announcer, Lorenzo, has to say about the chariots.

"Oh my god, this is the most boring part of the games. Uniforms. If they were sent like that into the arena it would be cool, but this is just boring."

"Well, anyways" He says as he coughs into the microphone or at least that´s what it sounds like. "There it goes District One! Both are dressed in costumes filled with jewels. I can´t wait to steal one and sell it on the black market. Charlotte is pretty uncomfortable in her dress, probably because it is too big for the little body. Reginus seems pretty cool, but he and Charlotte have started arguing. What´s their deal? They are careers."

"And then District Two appears. They are both dressed like those old myths, I think the names of those are vikings? Anyway, their chariot seems to be having problems as one of their horses stops to eat a little bit of the things their people throw at them. Sadly, it doesn´t stop before continuing."

"District Three isn´t looking so good. Once again they are mad scientists and I can tell the little boy from there is feeling like he is the one who is mad. The girl seems calm and pretty stable, which is boring. She seems pretty lame and tamed by the Capitol. Oh, she is screaming at me now. Well, sucks to her, cause I don´t listen to her at all."

"District Four comes rolling, and the boy looks displeased to say the least. I hope he is more before he dies. The girl meanwhile, looks like a freaking doll in that mermaid costume. She looks like she is made of porcelain and will break at any minute"

"District Five is boring. They are dressed of factory workers. And the poor little guy can´t even see of what he is wearing cause he is blind. Good for us. Anyway, the girl seems pretty lame, though she is tall at least. Tall girls are hot."

"District Six´s Jessika Shull is dressed as a taxi driver and Zack is dressed as a taxi! Those two can take me anywhere they want... rum rum, hehe. Hey, Rodrigo why you look at me like that?"

"District Seven is dressed as lumberjack and tree, but now the lumberjack is the girl and the tree is the boy. Acacia seems to be wanting to actually Kareen, as they fight. And fight and punch each other. This is interesting. Go girl, hit some ass!"

"District Eight is dressed as fashion models, and the girl is throwing kisses at the crowd. I am the crowd boys, so she is all mine, don´t go over her. The boy from some reason looks disgusted of what I just said, but why?"

Then it´s Kasha and I´s turn. "District Nine looks pretty, I don´t know, I am not even seeing them. I am just seeing some stupid farmers who think that can survive this but will probably dying soon" I show him the finger, and Kasha does the same. "Hey, hey, what are you two doing? Rodrigo let me go there to beat their asses! No, Rodrigo let me!"

The audio cuts off there. I look behind me and see Gael, dressed as a sexy cowboy. How had i not noticed that before? He is waving at me? Or the crowd? I don´t know. Probably the crowd. i turn around as I see Melliora not even smile at the crowd. I mean, who can blame them.

The audio returns. "Sorry guys, Lorenzo is a bit sick now, so I will take over. Where were we? I don´t remember. Maybe District Eleven? The boy seems to be looking at the crowd, while the girl seems to be excitingly talking to her district partner. What can they be talking about?"

"Finally, District Twelve seems pretty normal for tributes, as the boy seems scarred but loving the attention, while the girl is stoically facing the enormous crowd in the seats."

"Well, that´s all for today- Lorenzo stop it, no!" The audio cuts off again as we arrive to the president house and Fabian Hale and his husband Blandus come out.

Then, Fabian opens his mouth.

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

"Welcome tributes and thank you for coming to compete in the 117th Hunger Games and my first Hunger Games as your president!" Cheers and screams come from the audience, making me ready to run back to my room. I feel so uncomfortable in this stupid merman costume and I bet they could all tell, especially that idiot doing the announcements. Luckily, I don't think I and Amara had the worst Chariot Ride, but it was still dreadful. After, hearing the announcement that someone may be voted out by the Capitol most of us 'non-volunteers' are on our best behavior. Imagine if I could come home and live my life as normal? I could marry Lukas and my family could build a better bond.

The applauds carries on until the president speaks again,

"Goodbye and good luck on your first day of training!" Blandus leaves and Fabian follows, smiling and waving to the crowd all the way. I couldn't say he was the worst, that wouldn't be fair. Fabian was just doing his job.

The boy from 1 was the first to jump off his chariot and everyone followed his lead. I stood, awkwardly, for a couple minutes before I heard Amara calling my name.

"Wels, over here." She ushers me over to a group of 5, now 6, and I know they're the careers, my allies.

"So, how old is everyone...?" Asks the boy from 1 and everyone look at him strangely before giving a response.

"17." The girl from 1 says and we all answer one at a time.

"17." Answers the boy from 2 and the girl from 2 says,

"18." Then it's Amara.

"18." They all stare at me and I know how they'll react to my age.

"Um…16."

"Seriously?" The boy from 1 cries.

"Shut up Remus." The girl from 1 rolls her eyes and Reginus walks away.

"Why does he care about our ages?" I ask.

"Remus thinks only 18-year-olds can volunteer." She replies and everyone laughs. Mine is fake and I can tell the boy from 2's is as well. I know why, he doesn't want to be kicked out of the careers and neither do I but-

Do I? I mean I never thought about it, but did I want to be a part of a group of vicious, trained, killers? I look around and see a few people chatting; it looks like alliances were already forming. I am good with names, so I manage to name the tributes that are talking to each other. Melliora and Briar stand talking to each other, well Melliora is talking and Briar seems to stay silent. Kasha and Acacia are also talking, and it doesn't look casual. Suddenly, Acacia begins to punch the air and Kasha nods judgmentally; she then does the exact same thing Acacia did. I could tell she wasn't someone I wanted to be around. The boy from 9. Scone, I think? Begins to stroll inside and I look back to the pack of careers. They all seem to be arguing and I can't be bothered to deal with that, so I run off in the direction of the building, hopefully I'll get a good sleep.

I stand at the corner of the elevator and Holland, the girl from 8, is in front of me. Scone and the guy from 10 (Gael) are beside me, in a similar position. I can't help but feel butterflies as my arm brushes against his. I preferred masculinity to femininity and this guy had it all, but I had to keep my mind off him for 3 reasons.

1) I was in a death match, not some love shows like I saw on the TV on the train.

2) He was likely straight.

3) I have a boyfriend.

The first one was new to me, but it helped me keep my emotions at bay. Suddenly, the girl in front of me twisted on her high heels with ease.

"I'm Holland." She says, rather excitedly and sticks out her hand.

"Yeah, I know. I'm Wels." I reply hesitantly, taking her, almost orange, hand.

"Oooh! How does a pretty boy like you know my name?" I hear a laugh and turn to see Gael and Scone both covering their mouths, how embarrassing. "Just kidding!" She giggles and slaps me across the face, it was a petty slap but that didn't stop my anger.

"You're not my type anyway."

"And what type am I?"

"Vain, jealous."

"Ohhhhh!" Gael yells and Scone gives him a strange look, raising his eyebrows. She starts to mock me, and I crouch under her arm as the door opens for floor 4 and stick my middle finger at her as the elevators close. Now she I wouldn't mind killing.

I knock on the door of the apartment and Tormenta, lazily, opens it for me. She holds a bottle of alcohol in the air and is wearing barely any clothes. As soon as I reach my room, I strip off my stupid merman tail and drop my trident.

I hear Amara come in a couple minutes after and step out the bath. I didn't want to, but I knew I was going to have get some advice from Ames.

"Ames!" I cry and he walks in.

"What you want-t?" He asks and I can tell he is drunk.

"Nevermind." I say and roll my eyes, pushing him out the door.

I don't need him anyway.


	8. Training Day One

_**Training Day One**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

So... training, yeah

I have to wake up to go there, but it´s just so hard to do so. I have to get up, and brush my teeth (which I never do at home, my teeth suck), and do get on training clothes, which make me look fat (all of them do), and go maybe interact with other people? Maybe.

Just maybe.

But i don´t want to get up. I want to stay in bed all day and not ever get up. I don´t want to go there and have to do all those things. It´s terrifying and I don´t want that at all.

Maybe I can just stay here, under the sheets, forever...

"WAKE UP, SLEEPY HEAD!" Ugh, Clementia´s voice in the morning is certainly not a good thing. And hey, maybe he is not mad at me anymore, right?

So I get off my bed, pretty slowly, and start to wonder around my room. It´s something I do when I am pretty anxious. I walk and walk when I don´t know what to do with my life, and the thoughts are killing and my brain wanting to be somewhere else, even if that somewhere else isn´t a nice place either.

Then, after I go to the bathroom, take a shower, put on my clothes and continue on outside the room.

There, Clementia, Kasha and Tiano are in the eating.

"Hey, don´t finish all of it! Leave something to me!"

They don´t speak to me. They just sit and eat and talk to each other.

"Kasha" Tiano says. "I think your alliance with that girl, what´s her name?"

"Acacia" The only women in the room tells him. "The girl from Seven"

"Yeah. I think that is going to be a great alliance, since you have a great dynamic as seen in the chariots. She seems like your type of girl. Are you planning on including someone else?"

"Well, the girl from eight, Holland, came to us before the chariots, so I think she may want something from us."

"I have an idea. If she wants to go with you and her in the arena as allies, you need to test her. Make her show her abilities to you. She must be tested."

"Good idea" Clementia says. "Test her in her abilities in weapons, survival skills and sponsors."

"Sponsors?" Kasha thinks as she rolls her eyes. "Why i even should do that?"

"Sponsors are very necessary to survive in the games. You need them for food, water, weapons, etc. They are very necessary."

Kasha nods, and so does Tiano.

I take the mini-silence as it is my turn to speak.

"Hey, that girl tried to seduce the District Four Male when we were in the elevator."

Nobody speaks to me, and the breakfast stays that way for a good time.

As i get into elevator on my own (Kasha says she will first stop in the District Seven floor to talk strategy with her ally), I feel the nerves come into me. My body is shaken by them, and it´s like my body has started freezing, and these clothes are so uncomfortable. If I could I would take them off.

But i can´t, and-

"Why are you speaking to yourself?" says the District Three Female next to me.

"Oh, em, I am sorry"

And she chuckles a bit. What´s so funny?

"It´s okay, I do that all the time." Oh, she does? "Hi, again. I am Clio"

"Hi" I say, waving like an idiot. _Why do i do that? _"My name is Scon. Scon Lavalle"

"I guess you are from District Nine?"

And I nod. _Why is this elevator taking so long? _

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what is it, Clio?"

"Do you think I can win this?"

Then the elevator finally arrives to the training center and I split from there.

I am trying to get some of these knots done when I feel some voices come near me.

"Hey", one of them says while i am still not looking at them. "You, em, you, yeah. Wanna be our ally?"

I turn around and see the three littlest kids. William, from Five, Jackob, from Three, who was the one who spoke, and…. The guy who has scars in his body.

He has things on his arms, things that bring me bad memories…

_I can´t do this. I need to escape. I need to go away._

_I go to the kitchen while everyone is sleeping, and even though I don´t want to do this, I feel like I really need to._

_I grab the knife and… I don´t do anything with it._

_I just stand there, with it in my hand, like trying to be brave enough to do it. Why I am even doing it?_

_I am not brave enough. _

_Ugh, I am so dumb. I need to just go back to bed_

Chickadee looks at me with curiosity. I can only but reply with fear.

"I think we four could a great alliance, don´t you think?" Jackob continues.

"I-I, I gotta go" And then I leave, leaving them with confusion on their eyes.

I bump into the District Five Female while leaving backwards, and she is next to Clio. Great, more awkwardness.

"I am sorry" It seems like Clio wants to speak with me but I won´t let her! No girl, you won´t get through me!

I end up in the plant section, where District Eleven and the girl from Six are talking.

"So, I heard you can see the future" Jessika says to Mortel.

"Oh, yeah" Mortel says. "I do it all the time, and because I am such a nice person I offer my service to the community. I can also see dead people."

"Yes, he can!" Pansy says. "He almost saw my dead parent once. Almost, but I am pretty sure he will be able to see them some time soon."

Jessika puts the kind of my face I make when something intrigues. "Hmmm, I can see a victory sometime soon. Wanna be allies?"

I need to get the hell out of here before someone else asks me.

I slowly back away… And then bump into Gael.

"Hi" he says.

"Hi" I say like an idiot.

"I talked to you during the chariots"

"Yeah, you did" I am this close to running away from here, but something stops me. Something intrigues me.

I speak after what feels like an absolute silence. "What did you want to tell me before the chariots?"

He turns around to see me again, and talks. "I just wanted to know if you would be okay to ally with me. But if you don´t want-

"YES" I say so out loud that I fear somebody must have looked at me bad. "I mean, of course."

He smiles at me. At least this day is getting better.

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

We sit silently at the table. No movement, no sound. Until Domitia finally breaks it,

"How about Kareen?" She asks and I look over at the 16-year-old boy with no arm throwing axes at a wall, the trainer looks impressed. Charlotte rolls her eyes and pushes that table back, standing from her bench.

"How many times do I have to say it?! No outer districts in the careers, it's just common sense." This takes me back; Charlotte always seemed quite chill and laid back. Maybe it was because Reginus has been giving her a hard time? I look over at him chatting away with Zack, his eyes lock with mine and he smirks before turning back to the boy.

"Wels? Hello!" Amara is in my face trying to get my attention; I honestly couldn't care less about the career alliance anymore. All we'd done this morning is argue about a replacement.

"What?" I ask, sighing.

"Charlie." I look back to where Charlie was standing and see her walking away towards some kind of sword.

"Well I'm going to go ask Kareen then."

"Ugh!" I scream and stand up, banging my thigh on the table. "Don't you see?! The more you do this the more people that leave! You suck, you absolutely suck. You´re mindless killers and that's it, I thought I could work with you but no. Reginus has left, Charlotte has left, and now I have left." I shout into their faces and look up to see everyone has stopped and is staring at me; maybe I was a bit too loud. "Good luck." I grunt and leave their shocked faces.

I reach the spear station and watch the district 8 male, Erick, struggle to throw them countless times they just land on the floor and I hold his wrist, stopping him from reaching another one.

"Let me help you, you're hopeless." I sigh and grab a spear.  
"I'm good with knives so I just assumed I could do spears." He murmurs and I chuckle, the amount of years it took me to master this is unbelievable.

"Since you're new to this you're going to start by putting your hand out in front of you. Like this." I demonstrate and then carry on. "You're going to pull the spear back here and line it up with your arm. "And with all your strength you are going to throw." The spear flies through the air and I smirk as Erick gasps. "Bullseye." I say and he smiles but it's not a real sincere smile, it's a scared and nervous smile. He was scared of me, oh no. "Look I didn't mean to scare you…"

"No, I'm not scared." He laughs a nervous laugh. He then scratches the back of his head.

"How about you show me you with the knives?" I ask and we walk towards the knife station, it sits beside the axe station where Tia, Lukas, Amara, and Kareen are talking. Amara gives me a warm smile and I return it; Amara is nice but it's like she lives in her head. She doesn't seem to show much emotion when the other careers talk about slaughtering other tributes, unlike me. I had to run to the bathroom and almost vomited at the thought of some of the scenarios they came up with. Erick picks up a knife, causing me to be sucked back into reality and he throws it at the target with ease. It barely hits the target, but he isn't terrible for an outer-district 16-year-old.

"Nice job." I say and he nods appreciating. "I'm going to go back to the spears, I'll see you around." I say and wave at him as I leave.

"See you." He replies and turns back to his knife throwing.

I finish up at the spear station and join the small 14-year-old called Chickadee.

"Hi." He greets as I take a seat next to him, he is attempting to make a shelter and is pretty good at it. He has made a small tipi that could probably fit 1-2 people.

"Wow. How do you do that?" I ask, intrigued.

"My Dad is a construction worker, so I picked up a few things from him." He shrugs.

"Can you teach me?" I ask and he narrows his eyes, looking into mine.

"I guess." He finally concludes and I smile a thanks.

For the next hour Chickadee teaches me to build a shelter until I learn it off by heart. Suddenly, a bell sounds and Peacekeepers arrive at the doors of the training center.

"Everyone back to your floors please." The one in front orders and I climb from my feet, helping Chickadee up.

"Well, I'll see you later." I say.

"You too. Wait, what was your name?" He questions and I turn back around to face him.

"Wels, why?"

"Just wondering." He says and runs after the 12 girl Briar. I see Amara but choose to avoid her.

The elevator fills up and I wait for it to come back down so I and about 6 others can get to our rooms. It comes down and the doors open. Everyone rushes inside and clicks a button, trying to be first so they can get there faster. I press it last and wait for everyone else to reach their floors until it's just me leaning against the wall. The doors open and I am greeted by some disappointed faces.  
"Amara tells us you left the careers?" Questions Sirena and Ames laughs.  
"I'm surprised he wasn't kicked off!"

"Oh, shut up." Sirena hisses and I roll my eyes.

"You´re coming back, right Wels?" Amara asks and I almost scream so many questions!  
"No." I say and walk off to my room.

"Wels!" Amara shouts and knocks on my door. I slide down the door and sit with my back against it.

"Amara, as nice as you are, I don't like being a career. I don't want to kill people; I don't want fame and glory. It's just not who I am. Okay?"

"I get it." She sighs but she clearly doesn't. "See you at dinner."  
"Mhm."

With that, my first day of training is over and I am left alliance-less. A wildcard I guess.

* * *

_Current Alliances:_

_Are these careers?: Domitia, Lukas, Amara, Kareen_

_"I am a bad guy": Reginus, Zack_

_The littles beans: Jackob, William, Chickadee_

_Only you can tolerate me: Melliora, Briar_

_Normal dude and Dudettes: Cliomera, Andromeda, Erick_

_The Girl Posse: Acacia, Holland, Kasha_

_"I can see the future" X2 and their follower: Jessika, Mortel, Pansy_

_910: Scon, Gael_

_Loners till Now: Charlotte, Wels_


	9. Training Day Two

_**Training Day Two**_

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

I grimace as the light shines into my closed eyes, causing me to put my head in my pillow.

"Come on, Wels. Breakfast." A familiar voice says, and I make it out to be Amara, but I can't really tell.

After a quick shower I brush back my drenched hair and scrub out the remaining shampoo that didn't wash out.

"Wels!" Screams a voice, Tormenta.

"I'm fucking coming!" I snap, I can't relax for 1 minute in this place. I pull on the tight grey trousers and the similar top. Why did it have to be long sleeved? Did they want us to die of heat and B.O? Like come on!

I finally make it out to the kitchen and jump onto a stool besides Sirena. Luckily, Amara had already left I didn't need her trying to get me back into that alliance.

"Found any allies?" Sirena asks and I shake my head. I had been up late last night thinking of some possibilities. So far, I'd only come up with, Erick, that girl alliance, Scon, or Gael. Almost immediately I cross out the girl alliance, I'd seen how Kasha treated the others and there was no way I was getting bossed around by that girl.

The elevator doors shoot open and I step inside. The only other person that is as late as me is the girl from twelve, Briar, she looks as if she's had a rough night.

"Everything alright?" I ask and she looks over at me, beaming but it doesn't look too realistic.

"I'm fine." I nod. "Sorry, who are you?"

"Wels Saltear, district 4." I say and she smiles.

"Briar Rossen, district 12." She shakes my hand. "I used to live in District 5." She blurts out and I look at her confused. "Me and my family were well-off but because of the underpopulation in 12, we had to move. My parents are struggling financially so if I win. Well yeah, you get it." I'd heard about that; Lukas' cousin had also been moved to 12. He was so sad. Suddenly, the elevator doors open, and I step out, walking towards the training center but I feel a firm grip on my arm. "Do you like want to join me and Melliora in an alliance?" I try not to look too surprised, I thought I'd have to do the asking. It's a change knowing people actually want me.

"Sure!" I exclaim and she jumps around in excitement. I look for the District 10 girl and see her standing, arms folded, eyeing me.

"Come on." Briar says and drags me towards her, I follow along hesitantly.

"Hi." I say and Melliora looks at me up and down.

"Why is he here?" She asks Briar but keeps eye contact with me.

"He agreed to be in our alliance." Melliora laughs sarcastically and I squint my eyes at her.

"No." She says bluntly and faces her back to me.

"Why?" I question and spin her around.  
"Don't touch me!" She says scrunching up her face like I have some kind of disease. "Look, at least you're a brunette." What does hair color have to do with this? "But I know what you're trying to do and believe me it won't work." She snarls.

"And what is that?"

"You're going to try and murder us in our sleep. Just because we're easy to beat, hm?" I scowl and turn away; I don't need them anyway. Poor Briar stuck with that girl.

I continue to throw spears at a target for 20 minutes and no one approaches me until I am spun around by a blonde girl with freckles, Charlotte.

"So, you took my advice and left?" She chuckles and talks to me like we're old friends, then she starts to prowl around me like wolves circling their prey.

"I didn't do that because of you."  
"Mhm." She says sarcastically.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"We're the only 2 solos in here."

"We are?"

"Yes." She replies like it's obvious.

"So…?"

"So, I'm proposing an alliance."  
"Um no." She is no different from them, volunteering for the fun of this.

"Think about it Wels! We'd be the power duo; we'd smash our competition."

"And then you'd murder me without hesitation, so no."

"Fine." She says, exhaling. Was she disappointed? Pffft!

She moves away and I walk towards the trap making station. I kneel down next to the trainer and she tells me the basic instructions, it's not long until I can do it with ease. I turn around and see 2 boys glaring at me and smirking, like they're about to pounce. Reginus and Zack.

"Oh, my fucking god, can you not leave me the hell alone?" I cry and try to push pass them, but they hold their ground.

"Oh, look he's trying to run away." Reginus laughs and I roll my eyes.

"Trying to get away from your ugly face, now get lost." I say and point directly at his ugly ass nose ring.

"At least I'm not gay!" He smirks and memories of Nile spark into my head.

"I'm not gay. I'm bisexual, there's a difference. Not like you'd know."

"He does too know." Zack accuses and I laugh.  
"Is this your sidekick?"

"Shut up Badguy." Reginus says, silencing him. "How is your boyfriend? Is he dead yet because he realizes he wasted his time dating someone like _you?_" Zack bites his lip to stop from laughing.

"Fuck off blondies." Someone shouts and its followed by another shout,

"Get out of his way." Reginus and Zack storm off, outnumbered. I smile as I see the faces behind them. Scon and Gael.

"Hey." Gael says and outstretches his hand to help me up.

"Thanks." I say, looking down at their shoes.

"Do you, by any chance, want to join our alliance?" Scone asks and my eyes lock with his, a sudden smile spreads on my face and I reply,

"Yes, please!" Maybe that isn't too subtle but hey, I have an alliance now.

The bell rings for lunch and we walk off, the smile still on my face.

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

I felt trapped.

I mean, who doesn´t feel trapped in the Hunger Games, but I just think that the alliance is going to constrict me

_Why did I ask him to join us, we would have been better off alone._

"So" Gael says. "Tell us about you, Wels?"

Wels looks a bit full in the mouth due to the food we were given. "Well, as you heard before, probably, I am bi" I smile. _Maybe there is a reason that he is here, with us. _"I have a normal life back home, really."

"Normal? So normal causes people to volunteer for the games?" Gael laughs at his saying.

"Yeah, tell us more Wels. We need to know more if we must know if you can trust us."

Wels looks at us. "Well, you know the usual. I get into a fight with the selected volunteer, my friend immobilizes him, there is no other volunteer and the trainers select me." He grabs one piece of his slice with the fork and while he eats it. "You know, the usual"

After a bit of silence, Gael opens his mouth. "My boyfriend is waiting for me back home," _I knew it! He is gay. _"I should have come out before getting reaped, and I didn´t even had the heart to do it during the goodbyes, but when I come home, I will show him that I love him" _Well, at least I was right about something. "_I just need to do it"

"I have a boyfriend back home. But I came out to my parents… well, the day of the reaping."

Then both look. Maybe I was watching them with a little too much curiosity. Am I being annoying?

"So, do you have any stories, Scon?" _Fucking Gael_

"Well, em, I-"

The bell for the end of lunch sounds.

_Wonderful noise_

"Oh, you know this sound. I gotta go, do, em, something. See you later!"

I go and don´t turn around while doing it.

I end up again in the knot station. _Why can´t I do this right damnit!_

"Are you okay?" Wels asks me. He obviously followed here.

"I am fine" I say.

"Are you sure?" he says.

"Yes! I am sure, as I am sure that if I ever have gay sex I will rip off my ass or break it!"

Then he looks at me, and I am all like_ Why the hell did I say that, he hates me now, I will die soon by his hands._

"So that´s why are you upset. Because you think Gael and I had a lot of sex with a lot of people, don´t you?"

"Well, yes- I mean no, I mean" I give up. "Yes, you are right. I am jealous."

"So…. Why is that?"

"Because I am ugly-"

"I don´t think you are"

"Because I am pathetic-"

"Are you sure of that?"

"Because no one will ever love-"

"Why are you diminishing yourself?"

"Because I am depressed"

For a second he finally shuts up. Then, he doesn´t.

"There are days I can´t get out of my bed. There are days that I wish I didn´t exist, because I am a burden to my family. There are days that my head fills myself with thoughts, thoughts I don´t like, thoughts that made me feel even more of a burden that I felt before. So don´t act like you are the only one with problems" He says and is about to turn to around to leave when I speak up.

"I have tried to kill myself"

Wels turns his face, and I look for an answer on his face. An emotion. Anger at me, Pity for me, anything that will make me realize what he feels about that.

And then, I find something else.

"I am sorry" he says. "Are you okay?"

_Empathy_

"I mean, now, yes. At that moment, no." I stop for a minute to take a breath. "I don´t know what I was doing. One moment I was stressing out Myriad´s death- You know, the old president who got shot and killed blah blah blah, and the next one I was in a turmoil where I didn´t even know I was doing, but I had a mission."

"To end it all?" Wels inquires.

I nod. "And I didn´t even know I should be still be living. I was lost and angry and upset, and I didn´t even see any other choice and I-I" I feel my eyes get teary. I don´t even know why I am like this. I should be strong, be powerful, be a man, not this blob of emotions that I am. I should someone normal, but I am not.

"Shh, it´s okay. Just- relax, okay?" He hugs and I cry even more. I just hate this, why is this all happening to me, _why. _I should be happy, and living my life as normal. Not suffer like this.

The trainer at the station looks at us just turns the other way.

I finish the hug and look at the horrible guy. "Fuck you!" I say to the one who should be helping us, but isn´t. He looks at me confused. "Yes, you!" I point at me. If everyone in the training room wasn´t watching me before, now they are. I don´t care.

"You should be a good person and try to help people. But no, you just like to send people to their slaughter, don´t ya?"

"Scon…"

"Wels, no, let me. I need to do this." I push the trainer. "You like to see people die" I push him again. "You like to see them all suffer as they go along, don´t you?" I push again. I can see the peacekeepers and the gamemakers looking at me now. "You like to see them all die, don´t you" I push again and I hear steps nearing me. "Well, fuck you!" I push him and he falls to the ground.

The peacekeepers turns around and the guy makes them some signals. _Why is he doing-_

_Oh, shit._

He is mute.

"You are lucky, boy. Maximus is telling us to leave you alone."

They leave, and I feel a thousand gazes looking at me.

"I am sorry. I am a terrible person, and I don´t know why I am like this. I am a terrible human being and I am sorry. I am so sorry-" I finish speaking not because I truly want to, but because I look at him, and he is _scared._

_He is scared of me._

The bell for the end of the Training Day sounds, and with that my hopes.

* * *

_Current Alliances:_

_Why are we still together?: Melliora, Briar_

_Bullies: Reginus, Zack_

_LGBT people: Wels, Scon, Gael_

_Does we count as careers?: Domitia, Lukas, Amara, Kareen_

_Little beans: Jackob, William, Chickadee_

_Normal People for once: Cliomera, Andromeda, Erick_

_Mysthical: Jessika, Mortel, Pansy_

_The Girl Posse: Acacia, Holland, Kasha_

_Flying Solo: Charlotte_


	10. Training Day Three

_**Training Day Three and Private Sessions**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

Why do i have to wake up every day?

"Scon, breakfast!"

Especially to Clementia´s high pitch screams.

I hope someone speaks to me today there. I don´t think anyone wants to after what i did yesterday.

Why did i do that? Am i crazy? Do i deserve to die? Oh god i deserve to die i really do i am evil and i am stupid and malevolent and dumb and idiotic and

"Breath" Clementia is right in front of me, in the door, and for some reason is comforting me? Why? I don´t deserve it.

"You are talking without realizing it again" Ups. I am really dumb.

"Why do you trash yourself so much?

"I don´t know. It´s something i do. I have done it for a long time and i am very deep into it. I can´t not do it. It has installed on me and i sometimes can´t breathe and- Wait, why are you so being so nice to me now, after what happened in the train?"

"Can´t a escort be nice to his tributes?"

"You aren´t that nice to Kasha. What´s up with me. Why are you being that nice to me?"

"I just like being nice." He pauses for a moment. "I think it´s also because i didn´t like being not nice to you while we were together after the trains. I mean, everyone man needs to have his angst moments, but i guess that´s just of the manliness, don´t you think"

I actually don´t think so, but i hold my silence over him.

"I also think that you are like me. Misunderstood"

"You mean in the districts?"

"No, dumb Scon. I mean here in the capitol."

"And how are you misunderstood?"

"Oh well, Scon, i don't want to fill you with stories about my _tragic, tragic past. _But i guess it´s time for Clementia to tell his story!"

I was about to roll my eyes when we sit on the table, while Kasha and Tiano are not there. I guess they are speaking strategy somewhere else.

"So Scon, do you know that my name sounds very district-ish?"

"I haven´t realized, why?"

"Well, it sounds very district-ish because it is." _What? _"My mother Claymidia, "I try to not laugh at the name. "Rest in peace, was a simple capitolite woman who liked to party, but was in love with someone forbidden. The mayor of District Nine. They lived a happy life, having a forbidden romance, until the, at that time, vice president Fabian Hale found out about them one time the mayor sneak on the train during some Hunger Games. They feared execution, but Fabian convinced Myriad Graeme to leave them alone. Something that destroying their love could make a rebellion happen. So they both installed themselves in the Capitol as a happy family. But their adopted son would go on to suffer from bullying because his heritage, and no one would to be friends with him. And also Nike Mandrews once bullied me for putting too much emotion to my Hunger Games fanfiction and I wanted to beat his ass so bad, but mom told me no. I wanted to kill her so bad." He moves his hands to pretend to having made an axe and pretend killing someone. I laugh. Maybe he isn´t just a mindless capitol person after all. Sure, he is a bit dramatic, but he is a good guy.

"Now, go to training. You woke up late."

"I did what?!" I run into the elevator and go to the training center.

"Good luck!"

I find that most tribute are already busy, and I am either blind or I can´t see Wels and Gael. _Where are they?_

"Hi" I see the girl of District Three next to me.

"Hi, Clio. What do you need?"

"Well-

"Wels?"

"No- I mean that I just wanted to know if you would like to join my alliance, the one with Andy and Erick" I see them both looking at Clio from the poison section. "I think us four could make a great team"

_Us four. _So Wels and Gael aren´t invited? Hmmm

"I think I don´t want to join your alliance. I am pretty good as I am"

She looks at me disappointed. "Oh, okay, I just-"

"Scone!" Wels calls me. I run to him in the knife section, leaving Clio behind.

"It´s Scon, without the E"

"Oh, sorry. My bad"

Gael is there too. Apparently the careers tributes haven´t occupied this section yet today. We throw some knives. I don´t hit any bullseye, but I do hit some of the targets. That´s good

The bell sounds, and I know what time is.

Private Sessions time.

We form a line and the tributes pass one by one. I see Reginus leave the room happily, highfiving Zack, who during his section comes out of the section comes out very angry. Clio leaves kind of disappointed, and I am getting anxious. What If I mess it up and get a one or worse, I make them angry at get a twelve. I would die instantly.

Erick comes out and does thumbs up to Andromeda and Cliomera, who were waiting for him. I feel anxious thoughts feel my brain, but they don´t. Will I do well? Will I get a good score? Will I get what I want? Will I not? Will I lose in the games? Will I die? Die die die die die die...

"Scon Lavalle! Your turn" I hear the megaphone speak. I see Holland leave, apparently very satisfied with herself, and it´s my turn.

Wels wishes me good luck and I go into it.

The first thing I see when I get in is the gamemakers. A protective shield covers them, for obvious reasons since most tributes want to kill them.

I am with the majority.

"Show us your talents, boy" one of the gamemakers says. Most of them aren´t even seeing me, they are too busy eating and partying, and laughing about how we are all gonna die.

_Great, how do I impress them?_

I start doing some knots and a few of the gamemakers start looking away from me. But two women remain looking at me.

_I hope those two are the most important_

Then I see the trainers there, and I get an idea

"Let me fight this one." I say pointing to Maximus. "I will show what I can do" Most gamemakers still don´t look at me, but the two women talk to each other.

"Ms. Kell, you should let him."

"He is the weakest trainer we have, it wouldn´t show anything, Aldora."

"Just let him! He has at least a chance to show us what he can do as an outlier."

The women look at me. "Okay, you may spar with him." The older one says.

Maximus walks over me, terrified. I mouth the much needed words in a whisper

_I am sorry_

And then I start punching him, in the face. I punch so hard, and for some reason, he doesn´t fight back as I continue.

Until I kick him in the balls, and the punches me in the stomach so hard I fall down. The pain is too much.

"I need help" I am on the floor, grabbing my stomach.

Then I see Maximus, holding a hand to me. _Why are people so nice to me?_

I get up with his help

The gamemakers look odd at me. Like they are intrigued but bored at the same time.

"Time´s up, Scon Lavalle" the younger one says

I leave the scene, partially humiliated, partly satisfied with myself.

"How well did you do?" Gael smiles to me

"I don´t know."

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

Amara stands beside me, looking at the elevator door.

"Where are you going?" I ask and she looks at me like I am stupid.

"The careers are going to be watching the scores from here."

"What?!" I scream in her face and she steps back, looking surprised. "Sorry, it's just um Gael and Scon were coming here."

"Oh, sorry Wels…" She, genuinely, apologizes and I scratch the back of my head.

It isn't long before the 'careers' start to pile in, and I stand at the side awkwardly as they whisper.

The elevator doors come open and I'm relieved to see Gael.  
"Hey, Wels. Scon will be just a minute."

"Um about that." I mutter and push him back into the elevator. I press number 9 and Gael gives me a funny look. "The careers were supposedly 'booked' for the fourth floor." I sigh and he nods with a smirk on his face. "What?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"No, it's nothing."

Scon is just as shocked as Gael when we turn up at his door and I repeat the small incident. Luckily, Kasha had already left to go watch the scores with Holland and Acacia.

"It's starting!" The escort screams and we hurry into the room. I sit down and Scon and Gael sit either side of me.

"Hello, Capitol!" Booms Lorenzo and I grimace, I've always hated Lorenzo. "Now, now. Let's get right into it with our TRIBUTE SCORES." He shouts with way too much emphasis and jumps up from his chair. Oh god, why put this man in charge of this?

"District one, we have our solo girl Charlotte with a 9! And her district partner Remus with a 10. One has some lucky tributes this year, that's for sure." He finishes with not needed wink.

"District two and first up is Miss. Domitia with an 8, a slight surprise for a career." I smile, finally a comment I like from him. "And Lukas the mucus with a 9." Say what? This guy doesn't even make any sense.

"District three, our first outer district, starting with Clio." He pauses. "-mera." What was the point in that? "With a 4! Haha, that sucks for you." I watch Scon look down with disappointment, did he know her or something? "And Jackie with a 6."

"And district four, starting with Amara with a 10." This was my moment. Had all my training been shown? "And Wels with a-" I cross my fingers and close my eyes. "8." An 8. That's the same score as Domitia and I wasn't even the chosen volunteer! I feel a pat on my back as Gael and Scon congratulate me.

"Andromeda for district five with a fou-five! Willy with a three, seems like a bloodbath their ladies and gentlemen." Poor William.

"This'll be a surprise but Jessika with a zero. A zero? Hahaha! We don't know who will win but we know who won't, hey Jess? Another disappointing score, Zack with a two." A two? A two! I can't help but burst out with laughter, the anger Reginus is feeling must be unreal. Scon and Gael join in until Clementia shushes us.

"Firstly, Acacia. Imagine having a name that is the same as a boring old tree, can't relate. Anyway, she got a 4 and Karin, Karine, how the fuck do you say this name? Ah, Kareen with a 7."

"Now in 8 we have some interesting ones, our girl Holland with a 4, eh bit of a letdown. Then we have one of our stronger outliers, Erick with a 7!" I feel Scon shuffle beside me and I realize he's coming up soon.

"District 9 with two average scores. The feisty girl Kasha with 6 and the boy with those anger issues with-" I squeeze Scon's arm, "another 6."  
"Yeah, Scon!" Gael cries and I give him a supportive smile with a pat on the back. He is straight faced but nodding proudly.

"And that strange girl from district 10, Mellora, oh sorry Melliora, with a 6, another boring 6."

"You got this Gael." Scon says.

"Gael, the strong hunky boy, with 7! Another strong outlier, how exciting."  
"Good job." I smile and Scon gives him a clap.

"We are going to be one strong alliance." Gael sighs. "Those poor careers won't see what hits them." I agree with that.

"Could you lot shut up?" Clementia cries.

"Ah, 11. How-how sad. We have that girl that is as gullible as a turtle, Pansy with a 2 and, even worse, her weirdo district partner Mortel with a 1. Can't wait to see these 2 die!"

"Last and, for once, not least 12. That girl that is way too nice, Briar got a 5. Wow, nice job." He says sarcastically. "And everyone's little baby, Chickadee with a 4! Ladies and Gentlemen, bye."

Clementia turns the TV off and heads towards the kitchen.

"I'll see you guys at the interviews." Gael says and waves us off as he heads into the elevator.

"Yep, bye." I reply and wait for the doors to close. "Everything okay?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Scon answers, brushing me off.

"Scon…"  
"I just don't want to be seen as the weakling of the group, like you guys protecting me and all that." I had no idea he felt like that, after all he did get the lowest score.

"No."  
"No?"

"Scon, we need you. So, what the Gamemakers didn't think you did as well as me and Gael? You wouldn't be in this alliance if we were going to try and protect you. I'm here to win not to help someone else win but if we could win together, I'd pick you over Gael. Got it?" He nods with a shy smile and I smile back. "I'll see you tomorrow." I say and step into the elevator.

"See you." He cries as the doors shut.


	11. Free Time and Interview Prep

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

We decide to meet on my floor to discuss some final plans before the Games, I still can't believe they are tomorrow.

Amara skips from out of her room, looking giddy, she presses a button and the elevator doors open.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

"Um…Kareen." She says and I suddenly remember that time my Father came home from a night out and acted just like this. As the elevator doors close, I stick my hand in the crack to open them back up again.

"Amara, you've been drinking. Haven't you?" I question, eyeing her.

"No, no silly boy!" She giggles and falls on top of me, I catch her and pull her out of the elevator.  
"Why are you going to Kareen?"  
"Sex!" She squeals and I grimace. What happened to the polite girl who never even dared to say a bad word?

"Tormenta!" I scream as I attempt to pull her up onto the couch. The elevator doors close and I hear it go up.

"What, Welsy?" Fuck sake, she's drunk too.

Amara and Tormenta sit on the bright blue sofa together, giggling and squealing. How much did they drink? Suddenly, the doors pop open and Gael and Scon walk in.

"Oh, hey." I sigh.  
"What's up?" Gael asks and eyes the duo on the sofa, suspiciously.

"Drunk." I reply and Sirena comes out of her room, luckily, she looks sober and she takes Amara to her room.

"Prep is soon, make this quick." She says, as she drags Tormenta away.

Gael and Scon begin to laugh and I join in with a small chuckle.

"Imagine liking girls, with how pretty boys are." My laughing stops there as Gael blurts that out and soon everyone else goes silent.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I snap, standing up.

"Chill out, it was just a joke!"  
"Well it wasn't very funny."  
"Why are you being so tense?" That makes me mad.

"Tense? How about because we are going to be thrown into a fucking death match tomorrow and you're standing here laughing and being biphobic?"

"Guys." Scon murmurs and I see he looks uncomfortable.

"At least my boyfriend is good looking." Gael sighs and starts picking at scabs on his fingers.

"At least my boyfriend doesn't just love me because I'm good at squeezing his dick." I cry and kick Gael in the shin.

"Maybe I am good at squeezing dick."  
"I bet you are." I blurt out and immediately wish I hadn't. "Just go." I say and he rolls his eyes as he walks into the elevator.

"Coming, Scon?"

"Go on without me." Scon says, looking at me with worry in his eyes. As the elevator doors close, Scon begins to talk.

"Wels…we can't be having arguments like this." And I thought he would take my side.

"Wow, so you're going to take his side?" I say and I watch as hurt spreads across his face.

"I'm not taking sides…I'm just saying, if we want to get through this we need to work together."

"Just go, Scon."

"Wels!"  
"Just go!" I scream into his face and tears appear in the corners of his eyes.

"Ok…"

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

I feel like shit.

Gael and Wels fought, and I was left in the middle, feeling like a pit of shit.

Yeah, a pit of shit. A void where all my negative accumulated until it was too much and the floor was flooded, with my shitness.

And now I am crying. It´s my fault that they fought. I could have stopped like I usually stopped the fights at home, pretending I was going to harm myself. I know it´s bad, but it´s what I did.

Maybe that´s why I am so depressed now. Maybe trying to stop my parents fights was what originated all this trouble in my mind. Maybe that´s the reason I am so sad all of the time, yeah it must be.

"FUCKING SHIT." I yell pretending no one is going to hear me. "I HATE YOU MOM, I HATE YOU DAD, I HATE YOU ALL!" The lamp goes flying into the window, which… just goes flying through it. _What?_

"You know," Clementia says from the door he just opened. "The window is in repair and they put a homogamic one there. Sorry, should have told you."

I look at him, angry but also disappointed in myself. This is what I do all the time. I blame everyone from my problems, and I am a piece of shit, that´s the reality. I do nothing right and If there were a character in a story, I would be the bad guy. Or worse, a minion of the bad guy. Mindless and not working with my anger for the evil. I am just a truly piece of shit and I do nothing right and I-

"Breathe." Clementia presses a hand to my back and another to my chest. "Exhale." He says and do so. "Inhale" I do so. "Relax." He starts repeating the same four verbs all the time. And it kind works? Yeah it works.

"I am sorry for throwing the lamp."

Clementia looks at me worried. "Why are you always asking for forgiveness?"

"All I know is that all I do are bad things. And that I am up to no good, so, the least I can do is ask for forgiveness." I look down into the floor. I deserve to feel bad.

"I think it must be pretty horrible living with such self-loathing. Even I, the great Clementia Alder, had never been in such low. And you are always in that low. How´s that feel?"

My body shakes for a moment. I-I don't know what to say. I have always felt bad about myself. The only time I can remember I didn´t was because I was just a mere child, and one is a child you have no knowledge of how you are or what are you.

"I don´t know. The first time I truly hated myself was when my dad caught wind that I liked boys. He yelled at me so much, telling me horrendous things. Telling at how I could like that, telling that was perverted, that was evil." I sigh. Clementia keeps looking at me. "But I don´t think that´s the reason. I also think I am a bad son, or that perverted. My dad once told me my likes were pedophilic, because I liked men, and for him liking men meant you liked kids. That thought is sometimes impregnated in my mind, that I am _that _perverted."

Clementia looks at me confused. "So…."

"But really, I don´t think any of that affected me. Not really. I am strong, I can do it, right?"

Clementia hugs me. "Shhhh, it´s okay."

Why do I people always make pity me? I can´t but hug him. Am I that manipulative? I can´t help but cry now.

And I even know why am I doing it.

Clementia breaks the hug after a few seconds. "I think it´s time for your interview prep, kid."

"Okay."

* * *

After Clementia guides into the prep room, I wait silently for them.

And for them, I mean Calandrea, cause Checker and Yoris must be making out somewhere else. They left Calandrea to do the whole work the other time, so I guess it will be the same time.

Calandrea shows up. She has some outfits on her arms.

"Okay, which color would you like?"

"You are asking me what I like?" Not many people have done before so, I am… weirded out?

"Yeah, what color? I have green, black and blue. It´s the same model, same size, different color. Which one you like best?"

I stutter. "Can I-I try the-them on?"

"Of course."

I try the green one, and I look like a freaking plant. Not that one.

I try the black one. It´s great but not much. I see a lot of time on TV.

I then try the blue one. "This is the one I want."

Calandrea smiles. Well, now I just have to do the make-"

Yoris and Checker appear in the entrance of the room… with lipsticks all over their faces.

I guess I was right.

And hey, I think I can make it out of these interviews alive, right? It can´t be that hard.

Just a few words.


	12. Interviews and Voting

_**Interviews**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

I stand in line.

Some of the tributes have arrived, others have not yet. Gael hasn´t yet, and I can see Wels talking to his drunk escort near him. I am between Andromeda and Melliora and they seem to be talking to each other.

"Hey, you look very acceptable. Want to join me and Briar and destroy the competition?"

"No, thanks kiddo" Melliora looks very angry after that. Briar appears next to Melliora.

"I was once part of District Five too." But have no time to hear all of that so I go to Wels.

He finishes talking with drunk lady and faces me. "Hi."

"Hi. What are you going to for your interview?"

Wels seem confused at my question. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, everyone has a plan. Everyone has an idea of what they will do. What are you going to do?"

Wels appears to be perplexed. "I guess I don´t really know."

Ideas float around my head. "I guess… I don´t know… Maybe... you could…come out?"

Wels looks angry at me. "Come out?!"

"Okay don´t be like that. I mean, just that the capitol likes that type of stories and- "

"Stories like what? Huh?!"

I sigh. "Stories of bravery. You don´t really have to be "brave", seeing as there are millions of possibilities you will be dead tomorrow. But you can pretend to be brave and just do what they want you to do and act like you are that. So… be brave I guess?" I do some _very _awkward thumbs up. For a moment, Wels doesn´t look convinced. But then, something sparkles in his eyes.

"Okay. I will do it."

I am about to respond when I hear someone speak.

"GET IN LINE TRIBUTES THE INTERVIEWS ARE ABOUT TO START!"

I see Gael in the distance and he comes into the line too. I can´t speak to Wels anymore because he is too far but I can speak to Gael.

"So, what´s- "

"Ugh, don´t talk near me, you psycho." Melliora is really mean and I can´t understand why. I guess I will talk to Gael later.

The interviews are going to start, as Lorenzo Salas mounts the stage. He is really well dressed, or at least I think he is (I have no sense of fashion). He is wearing a black tuxedo. I really like black tuxedos and I have always wanted to wear one, but I never could because I never got invited to those big parties or to the formal ones.

Now? I have a tuxedo I like ready to go and everything will be okay. I just have to focus.

"HELLO, USELESS CAPITOL CITIZENS!" The audience roars in laughs and shouts of emotions. "I am here to deliver the great secrets and drama, via these more likely boring interviews. So, enjoy!" He says something in a whisper, but no one is able to hear him.

Charlotte steps on the stage, wearing a silver dress with a platinum vest and silver shirt. She and Lorenzo present each other and "talk" about her chances as a loner.

"I am sooooo sure you will do well on your own, like all previously loner careers"

"I know I will. I am a strong independent woman and I just have to do it. Not for me, but for the people that love me."

After her comes Reginus. He is in a tuxedo with diamonds pinched on them. I am unaware of his interview due to wondering how much that costs, but I got a glimpse of it.

"Yeah, Zack might not be a born career, but he is eighteen-year-old and he is my ally, my friend. So, I guess I can say that we are both going to win this together!"

Domitia comes in next. She is wearing a red dress with red high heels. That red reminds me of blood, and I don´t want to think of it, so I look the other way.

"So. You need money. Like everyone in Panem. What makes you so special?"

"I don't need to be special to shine; you know. I can be my own. And I am fighting for who? My mother, so fuck off. Got it?"

When Lukas comes in, I can see Wels shake a bit. I try to reassure him, but I don´t know if my words got to him.

"You have nothing special about you boy. You are just a boring career"

"You say that? Well, then wait to see me in the arena. I will massacre my competition."

Clio comes in next. She is dressed in a dress with images of scientific test tubes and explosions. She smiles through Lorenzo´s insane torture.

"So, I heard you had a dead mom. How does that feel?"

Clio seems distraught, but I see her stay firm. "It´s okay. Hey, at least I don´t have both parents dead. Isn´t that a good thing?"

Jackob comes in next, smiling nervously. His smile is cut off by Lorenzo´s many abrupt attacks on him.

"So, you volunteered at age 14. Do you even think you are handsome enough to be the next Finnick Odair?"

"I-I don´t need to be someone else. All I want is to be with my friends and be myself."

Wels´ district partner enters the scene. She is wearing a delicate dress with the ocean being reflected on it.

"I heard you were drunk last night? Are you an alcoholic?"

"I am a proper lady and I am a good daughter. I wouldn´t do such a thing."

Then, It´s time for Wels. He walks onto the stage wearing a light blue tuxedo with a pin in form a fish in the shirt´s pocket, alongside a flower. He is nervous and I can see it. I wouldn´t blame him if he didn´t do what I advised him to do. I wouldn´t do it in my position.

"So, Wels what's wrong with you?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah. I can see something is up with you. Are you planning to attack like every other tribute surely wants to?"

Wels shakes his head. "So, what the hell is up then? Time is running, boy."

Wels opens his mouth, the world preparing to end. "I-I"

"Yeah? I will tell the guys to make the buzzer go off if you don´t speak."

"I AM BISEXUAL DAMNIT STOP PESTERING AND ANNOYING ME AND LET ME LIVE IN PEACE!"

Wels starts crying. Lorenzo continues pestering as usual, but Wels talks anyways.

"So, you are bi? You fuck both genders?"

"I don´t like sex."

"So, you are asexual biromantic."

"I don´t know. I guess?"

I hear voice behind me. "We should leave him behind in the bloodbath."

I look and it´s Gael speaking. "Haha, good joke guy" He looks deadpan to me. "Oh no. You are serious"

"How dare him steal my chance, that fake bisexual." I gulp. I don´t really want to talk about this now. Nor ever.

I see to the other side and Wels is leaving the stage.

_Shit_

He is crying and his pin on the floor now.

"Hey, hey, you did good. Don´t cry." I shoot a glance a Gael and continue comforting Wels as Andromeda talks about her drunken dad. "You did the best you could."

"Then why aren´t you going to do the same?" I look at Wels and then Gael, and then Wels and then Gael and I am like _Oh shit what do I say to fix this. _

"Because… I am a hypocrite?" I do the thumbs up again.

Wels chuckles. At least that´s good.

William enters the stage with a roar.

He tries using his notepad to speak, but Lorenzo won´t let him have a pen and continues to mock him.

"Oh, here you go… Oh wait, you thought I was really going to give it to you, ha!"

William leaves the stage in tears.

Jessika comes in an astonishing yellow dress. As astonishing a yellow dress can be of course.

"So, do you have any predictions, smartass?"

"I predict one of the lights of the stage will fall soon."

During Zack´s interview, one does exactly that. Zack tries to salvage the situation, but the buzzer goes off almost immediately.

And I am here left thinking. _What the hell am I going to do now?_

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

I wipe away the tears that are still forming in the corner of my eyes, Lorenzo was an asshole. Still, I decide to stay to be there to cheer on my allies – Gael and Scon.

I listen in as Acacia enters the stage in a bright orange dress, her hair is up in a bun and she looks uncomfortable as she wobbles around in her high heels.

"I interviewed your boyfriend just some years ago. Must be good for you to sit down in the same chair."

Acacia looks as if she was going to slap Lorenzo in the face. Unfortunately, she holds herself together. Well, that's what I think until she grabs her chair and throws it at him. Sadly, Lorenzo has a force field and it just bounces off, it's a shame I would've liked to see his head get smashed.

Kareen goes on next in a brown shirt and brown trousers, he wears a green hat and I laugh as I realize that his stylists attempted to make him into a tree!

"Another outer volunteer? You lot always think you're so special?"

"I'm different because unlike them, I'm going to win."

Holland frolics onto the stage in her bright pink high heels, that match her hair, and a yellow dress. She looks like someone out of those kids shows Tormenta was watching.

"Why Lorenzo! It's such a pleasure." She cries and throws her hands around him.

"The pleasure is all mine." He smiles. Why doesn't he trash her like everyone else? What a pervert.

I look over at Scon and see him shake a bit, 2 more tributes until him. I look back on the stage as Lorenzo screams into Erick's face.

"Give me some interesting tributes! Why have you got to be so average?" Erick shuffles around in his navy-blue blazer and looks as if he is sweating.

Kasha walks out, straight after Erick gets back, and I chuckle to myself as I watch her itch herself in her massive PINK dress. From what I heard, off Scon, Kasha deserved this.

"So, you are an orphan. There are so many orphans starving in Panem, but you will get some food before your imminent death"

"Oh, shut up. Want a chair to your face because that forcefield won't stand my strength you piece of shit."

Kasha storms off and I go to give some words of advice to Scon but he waddles onto the stage before I can.

"H-hey, Lorenzo!" He cries and goes to shake his hand but is denied as Lorenzo looks back at it in disgust.

"So, Scon."

"Yes?" He is trying to sound confident, but his voice is shaking, maybe he should just stop talking.

"If you had to choose one of your allies to die, who would it be?"

"What?!"

"What?" I say in sync with Scon and I look over at Gael. He stares straight forward, confident. Something tells me that Gael will get picked to survive, after all Gael was with Scon first.

"I- um. I don't know." The Capitol audience boos him and my heart sinks as the tears start to fall from his eyes. He looks over at me and I, sadly, smile back. He nods his head and sighs. "Gael. I would choose Gael to die." He says and as soon as the buzzer goes off, he runs straight at me and into my arms.

It's awkward but I don't mind. I just can't believe he picked me.

"Why?" I whisper but he just shrugs and together we wait for Gael's interview to root him on. Gael didn't look at us until it's his turn.

Melliora had said something racist, I don't know, I was hardly listening. Scon looks down as Gael looks at us and I nod at him, he scowls at me.

"Hello, Gael!" Lorenzo cries.

"Yeah, you can stop there. I have something important to say."

"Okay?" Lorenzo questions, intrigued.

"You know Wels? He's an asshole, he was scared to come out to his family! Oh, but when it comes to taking your money, of course he'll come out to you guys." Scon squeezes my wrist and I just stare at Gael in shock.

"Some inside information! Hahaha." Lorenzo laughs.

"Don't even get me started on Scon. He's so emotionally unstable! You wouldn't believe me if I told you that he always cries to Wels about depression, blah blah blah. It's obvious that he has a massive crush on me and is probably so perverted that he dreams of fucking me!" Gael screams and Scon whimpers.

The other tributes that are still here either stare at us in disgust, shock, or sorrow. Scon and I just stand there and as Gael leaves the stage, he goes to push me. Fortunately, I had seen it coming and I trip him up as he walks by.

"You're an asshole." I snarl and he just chuckles.

"Looking forward to killing you." He says, getting to his feet and heading to the limo outside. I don't want to follow him in so Scon and I watch from the side as Pansy is trashed by Lorenzo, calling her a bloodbath.

"I guess it's just us now." Scon says and I nod in agreement. Mortel enters the stage in a grey dress-shirt and jeans. He's probably the least formal here tonight.

"Please, don't be like Jessika!" Lorenzo pleads and Mortel just glares at him, he doesn't speak a word until his buzzer goes off.

Briar where's an off-the-shoulder dress and her hair is up in 2 pigtails. As soon as she reaches Lorenzo she is shot with a question.

"You are smart. So, tell me, fast, what´s the square root of 1737882338732742897?" Briar looks like she is about to calculate it but gives up.

"I don't know." She says.

Lastly, Dee skips onto the stage and waves at the crowd.

"Tell me about yourself." Lorenzo says.

"Okay?" He replies. "Well, I spend most of my time at the hospital. My best friend, Nurse Helma, treats me there when I've been badly hurt."

"How do you get hurt?" Lorenzo questions further.

"Um…I don't know." He giggles shyly and I look at Scon who looks like he's about to cry.

"Poor boy." Scon says as Chickadee walks back.

"Well, let's wait for the voting to be announced." I sigh, after what Gael did, I had no chance at leaving without a fight.

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

I am really dead now.

I know that´s a self-centred thing to say in your head, because no one can think that when they are truly dead, but still. I feel like I am dead. Like I am dead and in a sea of souls where I can´t truly see where I am going.

Well, I just know that I don´t know where I am going, because I was looking for the bathroom and ended up, I don´t know where.

I am sitting on the floor. I am loser. I can´t comprehend why I ruin everything and everyone. Maybe that´s why my friends don´t truly want me around them. Maybe…

I need to stand up and go somewhere else. The bathroom must be somewhere.

Gael, why did he have to do that? There was no right to trash us like that.

_Maybe he got a point with you. _

No, he surely didn´t. He mustn´t. If not, what am I?

I can´t read the sign of the nearest door, but a guy exits that one and there is a lot of computesr.

And even though I have heard how the cat was killed by his curiosity, I go in. Just because. Maybe there are computer games in there.

When I enter, I clearly see that wasn´t true.

There is only one computer there, a single one. I instantly think why the hell there would be one single computer to play games, so I get closer. There are a lot of notes in what holds the computer.

_We can´t have Acacia be the one who lives_

_Why not? She would one less rebel tribute_

_Let´s just have Reginus. He is hot._

_Tributes aren´t sold anymore as prostitutes, keep your head straight Thomson. _

_But I really like him!_

_Let´s just save Holland. That way no one will suspect_

_Okay. But when Reginus makes it past the bloodbath he is going to live, gotcha?_

Ohhh, so this is where the voting happens.

No one will save us. They are going to sabotage it.

I open the computer, and there is no password. _Capitolies are really dumb. _

I open the program that is counting the votes. There are two tributes at the head.

Holland, in second place… and Wels in first place.

_I guess that what I told to him helped him. _

I smile for a second, but then my smile flashes away as images of the arena flash forward in my head. I see Gael coming for me, while all alone and with no defense, and crying and crying.

_If I can´t kill your little boyfriend, I might as well kill you_

I see myself getting stabbed all over again, crying for Wels, but he can´t help me, because I am all alone in the arena. With no one to help me.

I know what I what I gotta do

_I am sorry Wels, but I can´t do this without you_

I press the button

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

Scon returns from the bathroom and I'm relieved because Lorenzo had just called all of us to the stage.

This would be the moment that I found out whether or not I could get back home to my family and Lukas, to my life. Without, having the guilt of my kill/s being carried on my shoulders and weighing me down until the rest of eternity.

Everyone was nervous. Even the careers that didn't want this opportunity taken away from them. There was probably a rule about re-volunteering after being saved.

There are 2 benches, I am instructed to stand on the top one (next to Amara and Andromeda) and Scon is on the bottom bench (next to Kasha and Melliora). I wave goodbye to him and he smiles back, something felt off about Scon.

Ever since he'd come back from the bathroom, I had been getting a weird vibe from him. Maybe he met Gael in there, and they plotted against me. No, of course not, I had to remember that I was talking about Scon.

"Welcome back, my worthless Capitolites. It's a very sad day to day because the President decided to ruin our fun and make it 21 deaths, instead of 23! Now, we'll be finding out who our first unlucky saved one is."

Unlucky? Hm.

"And the first lucky person not to get saved because they suck, and nobody likes them is…Domitia Haymes!" The audience claps and Domitia holds her heart, looking relieved. She leaves the stage.

The next 19 tributes names are called until the only tributes left were, Me, Scon, Gael, Chickadee, and Acacia.

"Scon Lavalle!" He calls and I look at Scon, surprisingly he's not crying. It's almost as if he had known it wouldn't be him. Although, I didn't have time to dwell on that because Lorenzo was about to call the next name.

"Acacia Woods!" I was getting closer and closer, could I really be saved?

"Final 3!" Lorenzo squeals. "And another completely useless person is our one and only, Gael Yule!" I can't help but smile as I watch Gael clumsily walk to the side of the stage, he deserved this. "Now, we have the boy that fucks two genders- "

"I'm asexual." I interrupt, snarling at him.

"And the hospital kid. My bet is on the hospital kid because the guy named after a fish is not very likable." He earns a laugh from the crowd and I roll my eyes, I couldn't let this get to me.

"Wels Saltear…please, leave the stage you worthless pile of shit." I choke on a sob and I'm blinded by tears as I stumble off the stage. I had lost.

I fall to the floor and barely hear the crowd's chants as Chickadee is escorted away, to safety. I feel a hand on my back, but I don't look up to see who it is because I know that only one person here cared about me, Scon.

It wasn't his fault, it wasn't like he controlled the voting.


	13. Bloodbath

_**Hear to "**_**_Background Music: Epic Tension and Mysterious" in Youtube for until the Bloodbath starts._**

**_Then when the killing starts, listen to "Dark Orchestral Violin Soundtrack Music 2017 - The Untold Full Album Compilation" Since the 0:30._**

**_Now, let´s get started. _**

* * *

_**Bloodbath**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

I wake up into nothingness.

Or more likely, feeling like nothing. Like I am nothing, and there is nothing for me out there. Like I am one with the nothing.

I realize it´s very early, the sun is just appearing in the sky, so I go take a shower.

Before the incident my dream schedule was very off. And the arena it will be more likely be too.

I just hope that what happened won´t happen again.

_Why did you did that Scon?_

I don´t know.

_Why are you just an asshole who everyone who likes you?_

I really don´t know.

_Why did you betray Wels like that?_

I-I need to do it to survive

_Well, do you really want to survive? _

I won´t let myself cry okay. Leave me alone

_Maybe you just wanted someone to hold you at night when you die_

"LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE OKAY!"

The punch only makes my hand hurt.

Okay, but time´s to distract myself!

I dress myself with the arena uniform. It´s like a real uniform this time around, with a tie and a pin that says "Grade Nine". Hmmm, I wonder why that is. It´s mostly black but the shoes are brown. And the socks are grey.

I walk into the living room of my floor, where I see Tiano having breakfast with Kasha.

I don´t say a word and they don´t either. The tension feels the air.

It´s not until the peacekeepers come to pick us up that Tiano says something.

"Good luck. To both of us you"

"You will need it."

* * *

"You will do okay."

"I won´t."

"What did we say about being unnecessarily pessimistic?"

"That it is very likely that I will die if I am like that."

"Good boy. Now go into the tube and do your best."

I sigh. I really don´t want the games to start. I really don´t want to spend a lot of time debating if I will do or not, and I really don´t want to be near Wels now. I am a hypocrite. I know I shouldn´t have done what I did, but I still did. I should die now.

_Don´t be like that_

Oh, so now you are optimistic! Fuck you brain! I hate you!

I say goodbye to Clementia as the tubes rise, and I see myself around twenty-two other people. Twenty-two other people who might die, or kill me. We will see how it all goes around.

I look around at my surroundings. There are tables that remind of me of the dining hall of my school, but it´s more, sophisticated? Yeah it is. There is a big amount of food in a table that says "The hoarder of the school" in a in the table. Oh… so this is the arena.

Shit. I always hated school and now I am on it in my possible death. Shit

"_Ladies and gentlemen, let the One Hundred Seventeen Hunger Games begin!_

60..

To my right is Clio. She looks frightened but steady. She looks over to Andromeda, who is a few plates away from her. She smiles to her. I hope she doesn´t kill me.

50…

Jackob is to my left. He is unsurprisingly smiling, due to obviously his hopes being elevated since Chickadee could be saved. He doesn´t know it was all thanks to me, and at least Chickadee will live in the capitol. He won´t have to face his terrible family anymore.

40..

Acacia is right after Jackob. She looks vicious and ready to kill someone.

30…

Zack is right after Domitia and Clio. Zack looks at the career and she looks right back to him. Then they both look at the scissors in front of them.

20…

I just have noticed it, but there aren´t usual weapons in the cornucopia. I can´t only see food trays, bowls, plates plastic cutlery, and school stuff, like pens and scissors.

10…

My hands shake.

5…

My face shakes.

4…

My body shakes.

3…

I shake.

2…

What do I do?!

1…

Oh lord please help me.

0…

Here I go.

The first thing that happens when the gong sounds is that Acacia runs up to Jackob and starts choking him. I turn around to the other side and run, as Clio goes in to grab some supplies. For some I decide to follow her.

I run into the cornucopia and grab a food tray and a ruler. The careers aren´t attacking me for some reason and I will implore heavens if they continue not to.

Clio is next to me, grabbing some other stuff. "You help me?!"

I am about to answer when I turn around and hear a few screams. Reginus is bleeding in the ground, Lukas above him with some bloody scissors, while Zack´s eyes are being taken out of his body by Domitia.

Zack screams and screams and tries to attack Tia, but he can´t see. He can´t see and as I run away from the cornucopia, I can´t stop seeing that image.

The food tray slips from my hand. _GODDAMNIT FOCUS SCON FOCUS. _

While I try to grab, I see Andromeda´s neck be snapped by Amara.

Clio screams and tries to run after her, but I grab her from the arm. "Don´t"

She continues to scream for a second. She then changes her mind.

"Okay!"

I tell her to run when she grabs me by the neck. _She is going to kill me oh god oh god. _

"Just. Pretend."

What does she- Oh… I get it now.

I kick her with my head and she lets go. I run to the exit of this bloody room and as I see Erick run towards Wels and plunge the knife.

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

I roll away as Erick's scissors stab at me, that should of hit. Why hadn't it?

I look up and see my answer, Amara had saved my life. Or was she about to end it? I realize that she stands over Erick's body, a pen and Erick's scissors, bloody with his blood.

"Go." She whispers and I climb from under a table, looking around for some exits but there is one problem.

I can't find Scon.

I had seen him just a few seconds ago with that girl from 3. Had she killed him?

I jump at the next cannon and my eyes scan the room to see a new body, it's Kareen's. His murderer stares back at me, flipping her blonde hair. Charlotte. I think she's about to come after me, but she dives back into the cornucopia in search of more supplies.

I don't know what to do. I take a step backwards as I watch William get taunted by Kasha who holds him against a wall, scissors to his neck.

"Come on! Give me a scream." She laughs and William's eyes are blurred with tears, I can't let her do this.

I grab a cracked plate I had dropped and smash it against the table. This gives me a nice shard that reminds me of the blade of a knife, I flick the sharp porcelain and it spins towards Kasha but of course it has to miss.

William's eyes go wide as Kasha slits his throat, ready to challenge a new opponent and that opponent is me. Kasha takes a quick glance at me and then at Gael who runs through the door that I thought I had seen Scon go through.

Her head flicks between us and she shouts at the girl with pink hair, holding a pencil, that is to the left of her.

"Get the boy from 10." She hisses and re-focuses on me. Why hadn't I run? "Wanting to save poor little mute boy, hm?" She muses.

"You disgust me." I say and spit at her feet. Then, I hear a scream and we both turn to watch Holland get cut open by a pair from scissors by Gael's doing. Kasha runs for her and Gael runs off through the door.

The door I was wanting to go through was now blocked by Kasha and someone that hated me lurked nearby. My only option is to find a new exit and I settle on the one beside me.

I dash for the exit and I'm blocked by Melliora who is slashing at Briar with a food tray that keeps slipping from her hands.

"Stop!" Briar screams and I sprint past as Melliora gives up with the tray and grabs a fork from the table beside her. She plunges it into Briar's head and her cannon sounds.

Before, leaving the bloodbath I take one last look. The only people who remain there are Pansy, Charlotte, Mortel, and the careers. Melliora runs towards Kasha who leaves out another exit.

I watch, probably, the final bloodbath death. Mortel hides behind Pansy, Charlotte faces the 2 of them with a sharp looking knife pointed at them. Mortel pushes Pansy into the knife and uses her as a distraction as he runs to the door to the right of him.

Pansy's cannon sounds and I close the door. The bloodbath was over.

* * *

_Alliances:_

_The Remaining Careers: Domitia, Lukas, Amara_

_Got her Revenge: Charlotte_

_Where is Scon?: Wels _

_Improsived at the last second: Cliomera, Scon_

_Are you sure you are still allied?: Jessika, Mortel_

_The Bad girl Posse: Acacia, Kasha, Melliora_

_Looking for the Vendetta: Gael_

* * *

23rd: Jackob "Jack" Learnt, 14 (CarrotLord) (D3M) - Killed by Acacia Woods (D7F) -Acacia tried to choke him but got tired and snapped his neck - Jackob was a brave kid. He fought against depression and tried to prosper in life even with ADHD. He was a good kid and didn´t deserve to die like this. Sadly, Acacia got the first foot forward and he was the first death of this Hunger Games. RIP, you will be missed

22nd: Zack Badguy, 18 (sherazade98) - Killed by Domitia Haymes (D2F) - Eyeball removed with a pen and then bleed to death - Zack was Reginus´s main buddy, but he was more than that. He was a survivor, and knew how to handle situations well. Sadly, he didn´t see the pen coming into his eye and was then killed. RIP Kid, we will miss you

21st: Reginus Oldor, 18 ( 20) - Killed by Lukas Slade (D2M) - Stabbed with scissors - Reginus was an a priviliged ass. He thought only the people in the category he put himself with were the ones who won and did well. Look how did it turn out for him. Lesson Learned Kids. Don´t be discriminatory in any way, or you will die in the Hunger Games. RIP.

20th: Andromeda Wells, 18 (A River of Ink) - Killed by Amara Sol (D4F) - Neck snapped. Andromeda was a gal who didn´t let anyone stop her from doing what she wanted, even her alcoholic father. Even the Hunger Games. Sadly, things didn´t turn out well for her here, and she died in a Career´s hand. There was nothing she could do there, and so was eliminated. RIP Andy, we will miss you

19th: Erick Kobayashi , 16 (Tyquavis) (D8M) - Killed by Amara Sol (D4F) - Pushed over and disarmed, then disarmed and stabbed by his own scissors - Erick was a normal but fun tribute. He definitely had the strengths to go further and he would've been a good tribute to keep for later on but we decided to end you here and it will make sense later why we had to kill both Andromeda and him. I'll miss you Erick! RIP.

18th: Kareen Zepick, 16 (CarrotLord) (D7M) - Killed by Charlotte Haddox (D1F) - Stabbed by a kitchen knife and bled to death - Oh, Kareen. A career wannabe, that's for sure. You were a pain for a faceclaim but you were fun for the career pack but you just weren't needed to go any further. I hope people see why we put you here. RIP.

17th: William Phan, 13 (Idalove2read) (D5M) - Killed by Kasha Spelt (D9F) - Throat cut by scissors - William was cool and I think his death showed a scary but strong side of Kasha. It's sad that he had to die so early but there was no point of him going any further. I like a mute kid and it was sad to write your death. RIP.

16th: Holland Brown, 15 (Zacksteel) (D8F) - Killed by Gael Yule (D10M) - Cut open by scissors - Holland was awesome! Yeah, she was a typical "i love the Capitol" girl but she had a whole new side to her. She was nasty and cruel and just a complete badass. RIP.

15th: Briar Rossen, 14 (Jade-Warrior) (D12F) - Killed by Melliora Niskon (D10F) - Slashed open and stabbed with a fork in the head - This two deaths were hard to chose. We were between killing Pansy and Jessika, Jessika and Briar, or what happened here. We knew we had to kill two more, we just didn´t know who. We ended up the two youngies left, so now the youngest alive is Melliora. RIP Briar. You will be missed

14th: Pansy Ward, 14 (sherazade98) (D11F) - Pushed by Mortel Yeux (D11M) to be killed by Charlotte Haddox (D1F) - Stabbed with a kitchen knife - Pansy was cutie. She didn´t want to harm anyone. She just wanted to get a hold of her parents and talk to them, even if she was an orphan and didn´t know who they were. Mortel just lied to her and manipulated her, ending with her getting killed because of him. RIP Pansy, we will miss you.

* * *

Hey guys.

What did you think of the chapter. Did you like it? Were you surprised or angered or saddened by any of the deaths?

Hope you enjoyed the story till here, because there is more coming your way!

-Santiago and James


	14. Day One: School Shooter

_**Day One**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

I wasn`t crying.

But she was and that was why I was worried. She didn`t cry usually from what i have seen, even though Lorenzo had been a crap person to her.

But she needed to cry. And I respected that.

"It`s okay" I said to her as she stood by the bench in the swimming pool.

"How is it okay?!" She screamed. She pushed me and I feel to the ground. It hurt but not much. "How is it okay that my allies died while I just run away like a coward?!" She continued screaming. Her voice was screaming at god and the capitol, asking why that had to happen.

"There is no reason why that had to happen. Life is like that. Sometimes a government starts a death match, you make friends with your competitors and they die. Also, we don`t know if Erick is dead really."

"Oh yeah, so you say your _friend_ is dead?"

To be honest I haven`t thought much about it while trying to take care of Clio. Wels is probably dead, but I have Clio with me. And hey, at least I am not dead, right?

"He is probably dead. I-I don`t want to think about it. He died because of me."

"Why do you say that?"

I sighed. "It`s complicated. Let`s just say a plan didn`t work out like I wanted it to happen. And now I am left feeling even more guilty and I don`t need to feel guiltier. We are in The Hunger Games. We need to focus and do what we need to, to survive. And hey, we can both win together if we make it out this year if we make it further."

"Yeah, you are right." She said while brushing away tears. "But what do we now? How are we gonna make it out?"

"I don`t really know." I say, standing up and nearing the pool. I had heard being near water makes you look smarter. "So, I propose we search this area and- "

I slip

The water is pristine, but when I open my eyes under it, my eyes start to feel burnt. There is something in the water that makes me unable to open my eyes under it.

I open my eyes again when I poke my head outside of it.

"What the hell does this pool have?"

"I don`t know, chlorine?"

"What is that?!"

"You have never used chlorine in your life?"

"No! And I don`t like it"

Clio chuckles. "I guess you District Nine people aren`t as technological advanced as we are."

"Oh, yeah?" I say splatting water on her. "And I guess all you District Three people are self-centered brainiacs who are megalomaniac as fuck." She doesn`t seem fazed by what I said. "I bet you have never had fun."

"Oh, you say that again."

"I said that-" My words are stopped by Clio jumping into the pool and filling my face with water and chlorine.

"Hey, not cool."

She splats some water more and I laugh. It seems weird that I am having a normal conversation moment in the arena of the games, but here I am. Talking with my ally in the games and playing with water.

Nothing can go wrong, right?

* * *

Clio and I found a dryer thingy, that I don`t know the name of, it seems Capitoline. Well anyways, we found it and then we each went to their gender`s bathroom and we cleaned up and showered ourselves.

Now we are by the swimming pool again.

"Who else do you think died?"

"Well, I saw the District One Male and his ally die. And I am sorry to say this but I also saw Jackob." Clio looks down for a moment. I can see tears forming around her eyes. She must have been close to her district partner these past few days we stayed around each other and asked each other to ally with us but never agreeing.

"Do you miss him?" I ask.

"I do. And I don`t at the same time. I didn`t know him very much, but he was from my home. My district, my city. My place."

"It`s okay." I say to her. She must have been pretty badly hurt by all these deaths.

"You know," She says, changing the subject. "It`s the first time since my mother died that I have been in a swimming pool."

"Oh."

"Yeah. After my father killed her, I had been afraid to go into pools. We used to have one in our house, and I used to escape there all summers while my parents fought. I still could hear the screams there, but with the water around me, I could relax or at least pretend they weren`t there. That I was a capitol citizen with no problems in my life other than what type of clothing I should wear to Madison`s costume party."

"That Madison is a real bitch. I don`t know how people from the Capitol handle her." Clio laughs at my joke. Most of the time people don`t do that. I am glad someone does.

The anthem of Panem appears on the pool. The recounting of deaths must be starting.

The first person dead is Reginus. His face appears in the pool and we can see it roll down, as it slowly turns into Jackob. That means no other main career district died.

And then it turns into Andromeda. That means-

"Your ally is still alive." I smile. But the guilt starts flushing down my head all over again and I am left wandering how he will kill me when he finds out what I did.

The faces turn into William. Then into Zack and after that, into Kareen.

The faces keep coming on. Holland, Erick, Pansy and Briar. I realize there is no person younger than fifteen left in the games. Bad year for the youngies.

I start speaking up. "So- "

"I am going to kill District Four no matter what happens."

Uh oh. This looks bad.

And after that, a cannon sounds, leaving to wander who died now.

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

I had been sitting in this toilet cubicle for as long as I could remember, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened.

Had I lost my ally? Was Scon dead?

I think of him alone in a classroom as Gael slashes him with his sharp scissors, he screams for my name and I feel a chill rush down my spine. I had hoped Scon and I could have won this together but now I wasn't even sure if he was alive.

I figure I should camp out in this cubicle for the rest of day and night, after I know if Scon is dead or alive, I will go back to looking for him. For now, I had to rest up, even though I wasn't tired, I know that I will be soon, and I want to avoid that as much as possible.

I decide to unlock the cubicle and wash my face, just so I can feel fresher before I try and get some sleep. A few bits of acne had started to appear on my face, luckily, I'll be able to keep my face clean with the unlimited supply of water that the tap provides.

Hopefully, I can have a peaceful night tonight, but I know that it's unlikely. I mean, we are in The Hunger Games. I'm not entirely sure when the night starts so I decide to just sleep as soon as it turns dark outside the small, rectangular window above the toilet.

I put the toilet lid down and take a seat, I wish somebody was here with me. Someone I could talk to or just feel safe with.

I start to improvise by talking to myself, it may not attract sponsors, but I don't really need them as of now.

"How are you Wels?" I say aloud in a strange accent. Oh well.

"Good thanks, Wels!" I smile at the imaginary figure opposite me and then slap my head.

_You are acting crazy Wels!_

I think of Lukas and him watching me from home with my sister and parents. He would still love me either way, but my parents would probably be thinking,

_he's bi and crazy. What an abomination._

Fortunately, they wouldn't say it out loud. I wonder what they think of Lukas and I as a thing. Sadly, I probably won't live long enough to find out, but I hope Lukas moves on after me, he deserves so much better anyway.

Tears blur my sight and rush down my face, as they always do when I'm thinking about how much I suck. No wonder Scon left me, what use would I be to him?

The anthem starts to play, and I look into the toilet to find the faces of the deceased tributes. Sadly, Gael was alive but so was Scon. I was going to have to find him tonight.

I almost jump out the window as I hear voices getting closer and closer.

"Just shut the hell up." I hear a deeper voice say, most likely a male and then another voice.

"I dreamt you would do that. I also dreamt you will die, you will not win, Mortel." The door slams open and I peer over the door of the cubicle to see Mortel and Jessika standing just outside of the door.

"Oh yeah? Watch me from hell." He says and pulls out a shotgun from his belt, it had been covered by his shirt.

It must have been a sponsor.

"Mortel, don't." I have to bite my lip to stop me from screaming as the first gunshot sounds, I sink against the wall and put my hands over my ears, but I can still hear the next 3 loud bangs.

I make a slight whimper noise and Jessika's canon went immediately after the first shot was fired. Mortel opens the cubicle door next to me and slams it shut.

Not wanting to make a sound, I slither under my locked door and sprint out the bathroom as fast as I can. I can't help but look at the bloody body of Jessika as I leave, and the tears start rushing down.

I have to go. Anywhere but here.

* * *

_13th: Jessika Shull, 18 (AlexFalton) (D6F) - Killed by Mortel Yeux (D11M) - Shot with a gun - Jessika was a unique girl. She was actually magical and could do things one else could. So she died, and she had been resigned to her fate since she dreamt that dream where Mortel pointed a gun at her. RIP Jessika Shull_

* * *

_Hey guys, hope you liked the chapter! There is always death in the Hunger Games._

_Also i forgot to tell you the previous one, but i did tell my discord server about sponsoring opening up. You can only sponsor one item to one character or alliance. Nothing too crazy, okay? No robots, or monsters trucks._

_Hope you had a great day!_

_-Santiago_


	15. Night One: School Bullies

_**For this chapter, search: "**_**_TENSION Electronic music Fran Garcia" on Youtube. It´s a very good tension music_**

* * *

_**Night One**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

I wak_e_ up from the bench I am sleeping in. Clio is slapping me.

"What the-" Clio silences me. She points at the door. I can hear vague screams coming from it. I can`t guess who they are just yet, but I can do something.

Hide.

"What do we do?!"

She points under the bench. It`s our only chance.

Clio and hide under it, and then we see the chaos ensue.

Charlotte continues to push and punching Lukas more and more. Lukas tries to fight back but apparently he can`t do it anymore, because he falls next to the pool. Charlotte starts to drown him. Clio almost gasps but I put my hand on her mouth she doesn`t speak.

Charlotte continues to drown him. "Just die already!" She screams at him, even though he is too beat down to hear.

Lukas starts trying to escape Charlotte`s will, but she continues to drown him. Lukas` body shakes and if we weren`t seeing the situation and just his body, we would think his body is having a seizure. Lukas kicks and pushes away, but he can`t escape.

Finally, his body stops moving and the cannon sounds. Charlotte stands up and almost sees us, but doesn`t. She throws Lukas` body into the pool.

She is about to leave when something happens. She is thrown into the pool by Domitia.

Domitia starts choking her, but Charlotte drags her under water. We don`t see what happens there, only water moving. Constantly shaking.

We wait in silence, as we see bubbles come out of the water.

And then a cannon sounds. No one comes out of the water.

"Shall we go?" I ask.

And then, we see Domitia come out of the war, victorious of her fight.

And then she looks at us.

"SHIT RUN!" I scream and kick the sit away. Me and Clio start running into the locker area, and then a fork is thrown at us by Tia. It misses and hits the wall and we continue running.

We run into the locker room. I go into the guys toilets and Clio goes into the girls ones.

I hide in one of the shower and I roll the curtains.

Water starts running down on me.

"FU-" I shut myself up and run into one of the toilets cubicles as waters runs down my body. Hopefully she won`t see me.

The toilet cubicle has shit below it. Great.

I hear someone talking.

"Oh, guys, I don`t to want to kill you. I just want to have a chat." I hear in the bathroom. "Why would you ever ally with such a trap like Charlotte? You guys have no taste." I look down and see someone coming down into the bathroom.

Shit.

"I know you probably haven`t allied with her, but why were in the same room as her?" She opens a stall. "Like I said, I just want to talk."

Silent tears run down my face. I am gonna die. This is it.

She kicks down a stall next to me. "Where are you guys?" She steps down onto mine. This is it. I am dead.

She is gonna kick it down and I am gonna die. I am useless and that`s why I am gonna die and-

I see shit in the toilet below me.

Oh shit.

I grab it.

Domitia opens the door.

I throw it at her.

She screams.

I grab her knife.

She screams.

I stab at her.

One time.

She screams and kicks.

I stab twice.

She falls to the ground.

And then I stab again.

And Again.

And again.

She tries getting the knife out of her, but it`s useless. She is gone already.

I continue stabbing as the cannons sounds. I don`t care if she is dead. She could come back as a zombie or a mutt and kill me. I need to end her.

"DIE DIE ALREADY" She is not dead. I assure you. The cannon must have been for someone else. Her eyelid being gone is just a coincidence I assure you it`s play from her. She is not dead. She can be dead.

I have lost of the counts of the stabbings and my hand is tired, but I must continue. She will attack me at any point! I must-

I feel someone touch me from behind. I slash the knife at them.

I see Clio`s hand. It has a big slash on it now.

I turn around and continue stabbing. Then it hits me

_Oh shit what I have done._

"I am sorry Clio!"

Clio is now sitting on the floor, looking at her hand.

"I-It`s okay… I saw a first aid kid while running..." She stands up. "It must be somewhere around here…"

I stand up too. I see Domitia`s body one more time. There are just so many stab holes.

_What have I turned into?_

_Am I the monster that everyone thought I was?_

I look away and follow Clio`s path.

* * *

The first aid resulted to be no more than medical alcohol and some bandages. That should do.

"Are you okay?" I ask her. "Even due with what happened?"

Clio looks away. "Yeah, I am fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I mean, are you really-"

"JUST SHUT UP SCON!"

I am shocked at the shout, but accept it anyways.

"I understand why you are-"  
"Oh yeah, do you?"

I stay silent.

"Because it didn`t seem like that back there. You were just stabbing and stabbing. You were turned into something else Scon. Like you had no control over yourself."

"You are right."

"And then you slashed my hand!"

"Yeah, I know."

"I get that you had to kill her, but why like that? Why turn into a machine?"

"I-I don`t know" I sigh. "I guess it sometimes happens and I don`t like it when it does, but I do things involuntarily"

"Oh yeah, like stab a person a thousand times and then slash your friend?!"

_Friend._

"I am sorry." It`s the only thing I can say. "I will try to be better."

"Let`s just go slee-"

_Beep_

The window next to us open and a sponsor gift falls into us next to us.

"Let me examine it." I see that there are two sponsor gifts in the parachute. One it`s for Clio and one it`s for me. But both some related.

One is a map. I then read on it "Fabian Hale Honor High School" I see that the president was bit overzealous with the name.

_It`s a map of the arena, you idiot. _

I smile. This is a great opportunity.

"it`s science book." Clio says grabbing the other sponsor gift. "With recipes for poisons and such."

"I sure hope these kind of books weren`t sold in the pre-Panem era." I joke.

But she doesn`t smile this time.

"Let`s just go back to sleep."

I accommodate myself in the floor. But for some reason, sleep is being deprived of me.

_Just close your eyes and don`t think of her dead body!_

_Oh yeah, what a great thought!_

_Just think of food!_

I imagine a field full of scones. I walk around it and eat some.

And that makes me fall sleep soon enough.

* * *

_I walk around the field of Scones. I slowly eat some. They are delicious._

_"Oh, obviously they are delicious." I hear someone say behind me._

_I turn around, falling to the ground, and i see it´s Wels._

_"Do you think seriously think i wouldn´t find you for what you did." Now´s it´s Kasha._

_I start to crawl away, but the field gets longer and longer and they are getting closer._

_She throws a knife at me and it hits my leg. "Oh, poor little guy, who thinks he is so much better than anyone else here."_

_Now i turn my face to her and she is Tiano. "Oh poor butter hands, is your life going to fall from them too?"_

_He throws another knife at me. It lands in my other leg. _

_I fall to the ground. The pain is to much._

_I turn around one last time, and it´s Domitia._

_"You are going to pay for what you did!"_

_I scream_

* * *

I scream as i wake up.

I try seeing if everything i have is here.

Clothes, checked. Floor, checked. Clio, unchecked.

_Wait what?_

_Where is she?!_

* * *

_12th - Lukas Slade, 17 (D2M) (Tyquavis) - Killed by Charlotte Haddox (D1F) - Beaten and drowned to death - Lukas was a pretty normal career. He was intelligent but courageous and athletic. We didn't have too much of a plot for him and that was why his time ended here but we appreciate characters like these. I'm sorry that your time had to end here. RIP - James_

_11th - Charlotte Haddox, 17 (D1F) (timesphobic) __\- Killed by Domitia Haymes (D2F) - Stabbed with a fork and drowned - Charlotte! She was definitely one of my favorites out of the bunch and I loved her so much, her relationship with Wels was really fun to write and she was just overall a killer character. Sadly, we finalised the decision to end you here. You could have made it a lot further but somebody had to take 11th place and that somebody was you. I'm going to miss writing you. RIP. - James_

_10th - Domitia Haymes, 18 (D2F) (Juud108) - Killed by Scon Lavalle (D9M) - Stabbed uncountable times with knife - Domitia! I love writing her. She was a strong character with a will and reason to do what she did, so obviously she wasn´t going to stop. Sadly, a shit was thrown at her to the face and that is enough to distract anyone from what they are doing. And she died. RIP - Santiago_

* * *

**_Alliances:_**

**_WTF Just Happened: Scon, Cliomera_**

**_Where Is Scon?! I Am Getting Angsty Over Here: Wels_**

**_Where Were You When This Mess Happened: Amara_**

**_The Strongest Alliance Left: Acacia, Kasha, Melliora_**

**_The School Shouter is Still Out There: Mortel_**

**_Vendetta Searcher: Gael_**

* * *

**_Kills:_**

**_Charlotte: 3 (Kareen, Pansy, Lukas)_**

**_Lukas: 1 (Reginus)_**

**_Domitia: 2 (Zack, Charlotte)_**

**_Amara: 2 (Andromeda, Erick)_**

**_Acacia: 1 (Jackob)_**

**_Scon: 1 (Domitia)_**

**_Kasha: 1 (William)_**

**_Gael: 1 (Holland)_**

**_Melliora: 1 (Briar)_**

**_Mortel: 1 (Jessika)_**

* * *

_WTF JUST HAPPENED HERE GUYS. I AM TERRIFIED. _

_Hope you enjoyed the chapter._

_-Santiago and James_


	16. Day Two: Oh no!

_**Day Two**_

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

I had slept in the large patch of green all night, I assumed nobody would be out here at night, so I actually got some sleep. I had woken up just a few minutes ago when I hear the first beep.

I look up to see a red box, with a parachute, floating down right beside me. A sponsor? Already? I hadn't even done anything yet. I tear open the small box to reveal a scroll. I unroll it and I see some marked areas, English Classrooms, Maths, Canteen. Oh, it is a map of the arena.

I look at the science classrooms, it has an extra marking unlike the others. _Science equipment, drawer 3, row 4._

I jump to my feet, if that was still there it would be more useful than the spoon and scissors that I had picked up in the cornucopia. I locate myself at the field/football pitches and I continue along the field, passing some football pitches.

Suddenly, I hear another ding. Another sponsor? Wow, I must be getting lucky. The sponsor drops down, it's slightly bigger than the other one and I cross my fingers that it's a weapon but inside is some sort of helmet. It doesn't look like one of the helmets we use at the academy but either way it will protect my face.

I put it on, and it fits comfortably around my head, it is my exact head shape except slightly bigger to give me some room.

"Thanks." I mutter to the Capitolite sponsor, they may not want me to live but they want me to live longer. I take some time just to stand there and think before deciding to take the short cut through the math classrooms. Luckily, nobody was in there last night so hopefully nobody had gone there.

I take a step inside the math department and hear some shuffling; I take a couple of steps towards the classroom in front of me and decide to step inside to try and hide from the tribute or mutt that is around.

I crawl under a desk and hear a voice come from the hallway.

"Ugh, come on. There has to be somewhere I could do this. Maybe some science classrooms." It sounds like a female and of course they are also looking for the science classrooms.

I jump as the girl walks into the room and turns the light on. I recognize her as the girl from 3, the girl Scon ran off with but Scon isn't with her. What did she do to him? Her eyes suddenly make contact with my helmet and she points her fork directly at me.

"You…." She growls, then I remember that Amara and I had killed her ally, darn this sucked. I back away from her and get out from under the desk, with my arms up. I keep my scissors in hand as she charges, screaming with fury.

She slams right into me and I bang into the wall behind me, she winds me in the stomach, and I throw her off me as she's about to stab the fork into me.

"Where is Scon?" I ask and she looks less vengeful for a moment, less hostile, but in a matter of seconds she goes back to fighting me. She jumps on me and I flip her over my back, pressing her against the floor.

"Where is Scon?!" I scream in her face and she stabs me in the leg with her fork, I roll off of her and now we're in opposite positions, Clio is now on top of me.

"Scon doesn't want to be your ally anymore." She snarls and I shake my head, that can't be true. Scon and I were allies and still are. With that final comment I make the decision to open the scissors to get a sharper point and I close my eyes as the scissors plunge in. I hear a deafening scream.

"I'm so sorry." I say as I open my eyes to see her roll off me crying. I couldn't just let her bleed to death, so I pick her up in my arms, kiss her on the head and slit her throat. She didn't deserve this but neither did I.

Her cannon sounds immediately after and I sprawl myself on the floor, wide-eyed and full of all sorts of emotions.

* * *

_9th- Cliomera Hexton (D3F) - Killed by Wels Saltear (D4M) - Stabbed in the chest and then throat slit by scissors - Ah, Clio. You were a very interesting character indeed and I'm sorry that I didn't get to show much of you in Wels' PoVs as her main interactions were with Scon. You wanted revenge for your allies, a path that many take and many fail on. Your liking to science was a fun element to explore but your time ran out before you could do so. RIP._

* * *

_**Alliances:**_

_**Oh no: Scon**_

_**OH NO: Wels**_

_**Crying Somewhere For Sure: Amara**_

_**You Girls Are Surely Gonna Win: Acacia, Kasha, Melliora**_

_**Fake Clairvoyant with a Gun: Mortel**_

_**Vendetta Searcher: Gael**_

* * *

_**Kills:**_

_**Charlotte: 3 (Kareen, Pansy, Lukas)**_

_**Lukas: 1 (Reginus)**_

_**Domitia: 2 (Zack, Charlotte)**_

_**Wels: 1 (Cliomera)**_

_**Amara: 2 (Andromeda, Erick)**_

_**Acacia: 1 (Jackob)**_

_**Scon: 1 (Domitia)**_

_**Kasha: 1 (William)**_

_**Gael: 1 (Holland)**_

_**Melliora: 1 (Briar)**_

_**Mortel: 1 (Jessika)**_

* * *

_Two words:_

_OH NO!_

_-Santiago and James_


	17. Night Two: Reunions

I wipe the blood off of my scissors, Clio's body had been taken away a while ago, but I still have to step over the bloodstain I had left on the floor of the classroom. It reminds me of her lifeless body and empty eyes.

I don't know how long I had been laying there but it had turned night and I don't think I'll be able to sleep somewhere I know I've murdered somebody but that somebody was my ally's friend and it's unlikely that, if I find him, he'll forgive me for this.

I open the door and it creaks slightly, I step out onto the wooden floor and carry along down the narrow hallway of classrooms. I hold Clio's book in one hand, my map in the other, and my scissors are inside the book. The book is definitely useful, it has all types of poison mixtures and sorts. I can tell Clio was also looking for the science classrooms, but I decide that that was enough action for one day. Hopefully, the science equipment will still be there tomorrow.

I open a windowed door to get outside and take a deep breath of some slightly fresher air. I see another windowed door and hear a voice shouting inside, oh no I don't want to get into this again. I think about running the other direction, but I then start to hear what the mysterious person is saying.

"Clio!?" There should be one, and only one, tribute in this arena who is looking for Clio. That one person is the one I want to see most right now but what if it's not him? I don't care, I run at the closed doors and push them open. The tribute jumps away like I'm about to kill him.

"Wels…?" Tears start to form in my eyes as I make out the shadowy figure of Scon in the darkness of the changing rooms.

"Scon!" I cry and run at him, throwing him into a hug.

"Hey…" He whispers but sounds guilty, I shrug it off, I should be the guilty one. I had killed his ally.

"That cannon shot, earlier…do you know whose it was?" He asks and I immediately know that the cannon was the reason he was looking for Clio. I take a deep breath; I have to tell him. He deserves to know, if I'm going to win with him, he'd find out sooner or later.

"No idea." I blurt out and he sighs.

"I hope Clio is okay…oh, and I'm so sorry for leaving you in the bloodbath, Wels." This hurts even more, I lied straight to his face and now he's apologizing to me and being honest to me.

"It's okay, you did the right thing." I reply, he saved his own life and it was nice to know that he put his life before mine because I do not want any sacrifices made for me. What had I become? I'm a murderer and a liar.

"I'm sorry, Lukas." I whisper to the sky; he needs to know that I'm thinking of him. Everything that I do is for him. "Do you have a camp of any sorts?" I question and hope he does because I have nowhere to sleep tonight and I'm very tired.

"Yes, the swimming pool. Follow me." Scon leads the way out of the changing rooms and leads into a massive, squared, pool that is a bright blue color. It looks incredible, not nearly as incredible as the water in 4, but still incredible. "Careful, they have put some kind of strange chemical in there that hurts your eyes." Scon says and points towards the water.

"Ha, chlorine?" I laugh and he shrugs.

"That's what Clio called it." I shiver at her name and suddenly the anthem comes on. Oh no, this wasn't going to be good.

Clio's face appears in the center of the pool (kind of like it did in the toilet) and Scon falls to his knees, breaking down into tears. I don't know what to do. If I comfort him then I'm lying more but if I don't then I'm being a bad ally, and frankly, a bad friend.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I push Scon into the pool and he emerges from the water, coughing.

"Wels! What the freak?" He cries at me and I jump in beside him, splashing him with more water.

"I bet I can do a better dive than you." I smirk and he rolls his eyes, climbing out onto the pool's side and putting his arms above his head. He belly flops in and I laugh so hard that I begin to cry. "My turn!"

I climb out and put my arms up, jumping. I do a front flip in the air and land a perfect dive, as I come from the surface Scon (jokingly) shouts,

"Show off!"

We play around in the pool for a little longer and when we start to feel tired, we jump out. Scon is shivering and runs to get a towel but I just rinse out my clothes, using my hands. When we both are dry, we lay out a few towels and I lay on one whereas Scon lays on the other.

We each put a larger towel over ourselves and use another - folded – towel as a pillow.

"Goodnight, Scon." I yawn but by the time I say it he's fast asleep, well that wasn't so hard. I know he's going to be dreadfully upset in the morning, but we'll get through it and Scon will hopefully forgive me if we make it to the Games' recaps.

_Hopefully._

* * *

_**Alliances:**_

_**Shit is going down soon: Scon, **__**Wels**_

_**Has She Stopped Crying? We don´t know: Amara**_

_**How are you girls still together?: Acacia, Kasha, Melliora**_

_**HE HAS A GUN!: Mortel**_

_**Not a good Vendetta Searcher: Gael**_

* * *

_**Kills:**_

_**Charlotte: 3 (Kareen, Pansy, Lukas)**_

_**Lukas: 1 (Reginus)**_

_**Domitia: 2 (Zack, Charlotte)**_

_**Wels: 1 (Cliomera)**_

_**Amara: 2 (Andromeda, Erick)**_

_**Acacia: 1 (Jackob)**_

_**Scon: 1 (Domitia)**_

_**Kasha: 1 (William)**_

_**Gael: 1 (Holland)**_

_**Melliora: 1 (Briar)**_

_**Mortel: 1 (Jessika)**_

* * *

_Hope you liked the chapter!_

_-Santiago and James_


	18. Day Three: Okay?

_**Day Three**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male**_

* * *

This sucks.

Clio is dead. She is gone, and there is nothing I can do about it. She is gone, dead and I won`t ever be able to see her again.

Images of her corpse flash through my head. Being killed by Kasha, because she hates me and wants revenge. Being dismembered by Gael, because he wants to kill me for not agreeing with him and she was the first person he found to get rid of. Being tortured to death by Amara, because she must know I killed Domitia and it`s all my fault.

It's my fault because I couldn`t deal with the pressure, and I snapped. It`s my fault because I couldn't deal with the truth.

The truth that I suck. I suck pretty badly. She died because I couldn`t keep her next to me, even though she thought of me as a friend. It`s my fault because I did what I did to Wels. I made an innocent person go into the arena. I played god, and now this is my punishment. My suffering is just karma going after me.

This is what I deserve.

"Are you okay?" Wels asks me as we walk through the classrooms and the halls of the school. It sucks pretty hard that my death is going to be in the same place that almost led me to my death before, but I don`t really care right now. This is all my fault. I made my own bed and I have to lie on it.

"Yeah, I am fine." I say to him, smiling. This is all my fault and I hate that I can`t do what I want when I want. I should be able to grasp the truth, but I just can`t. Why does everything bad happen to me?

"Are you sure?" Wels is always like that, so caring but so persistent. I hate him, why can`t he just leave?

"I said-" I'm interrupted as we hear some noises coming near.

"Wh-Who do you think that is?" I say getting into combat position.

"I don`t know" Wels says, getting ready to fight too.

Then, we see two fronts coming up. On one, two people come in, two women. They are both looking strong and both have weapons. On the other hand, there is a girl. Who also a bow in her hands. Ready to shoot if we dare move.

_The girls_

"So, look what do we have here?" mocks Kasha. "A few useless bloodbath baits who somehow escaped the bloodbath alive. Where is your ally?" I instantly think of Clio, but- "Did the boy from ten already try to kill you both? How sad."

Acacia looks more unwilling to do this whole thing.

Melliora on the other hand… "See this Kasha, I am going kill them both with my bow? Now you will see I am useful…"

This is almost inevitable. There are only two ways to go, and they're locked.

"What do we do?" Wels asks.

"I-I"

I then whisper to him.

"_Let`s take off our shoes"_

Wels seems hesitant, but he does it fast and so do I

I want to tell him my plan, but they are getting nearer and nearer and there is no way out except this.

I tell him to be in position.

"You guys are just-"

I throw the shoe at her and Wels throws it at Melliora.

We run in Kasha and Acacia`s direction. While Kasha is distracted, we run past her. For some reason Acacia lets us go.

As we run, I hear someone scream. And a cannon sounds.

I don`t know what happens but we continue running. It`s all we can do.

After a few of what seems like hours we end up in the sports field. I don`t know what sports they played before, but I sure didn`t like them. If they are anything like The Hunger Games, I sure don`t.

"Are you okay?"

"Do I seem like I'm okay?" I say. "We are just going off the land with almost no supplies and we need them, and we just run away from our only choice of getting sponsors. WE. ARE. PATHETIC."

"Okay, I need you to calm, down... Take a deep breath."  
"I don`t need your fucking help Wels. I just need to think."

"Okey."

I sit down and thoughts start to rumble. How can we get sponsors? How can we not die? Will we ever make it out of here alive? Will Wels ever forgive me for what I did to him? I deserve to die. I am a bad person. Bad bad bad, I need to die. I am horrible and I don`t want to move anymore. I just want to lie and be with the floor. It`s so comfortable and-

"Look out!" Wels drags me out of the way of an arrow.

_Wait, what?_

Melliora is in front of us, with a bow and a few arrows.

"You ruined my alliance, you disgusting- I am gonna kill you!"

I stand up and run behind one of the bleachers. Wels runs to the other side.

I hide and start crying. Why has this got to happen to me? I guess this is like they say _It`s karma bitch. _

I sit behind one of the costumes dresses there. There is a switch with cables leading to some weird shit. They are all about a rat dressed in a weird looking outfit.

I hear Melliora getting closer. I move closer to the switch.

I cry.

I move more.

She gets closer.

I press the button.

The custom's eyes shine.

It runs away.

I hear a girl screaming.

I hear more screaming.

I press the button again with my butt.

The screaming stops.

But Melliora doesn`t get closer.

_What happened?_

I slowly clean my tears.

I stand up.

I get out of my hiding.

And then I see it.

Melliora.

Her body has been dismembered.

And the rat outfit is there. On the floor next to her.

_What the hell happened?!_

"Scon! I just found a wea- What… the… hell… happened… here?"

He looks at Melliora body`s. It almost completely destroyed.

But she is still breathing.

"I think-" Her cannon sounds. "That it was a mutt"

We take Melliora`s stuff and we run out of there. We couldn`t stand looking at her body any longer.

"An apple?" Wels asks me.  
"No, thank you, but no."

"Eh. Better for me I guess."

I keep getting saved, and I don't like it. Why do I keep getting saved from death when I shouldn`t? I am supposed to die. I am a bad guy. I need to die. Bad guys always die. It`s the only way we can survive. In the memory of others. The only way a bad guy is a bad guy is by making others feel it`s pain. That`s why bad guys have such a legacy, and good guys don`t.

I clean the blood out of the bow and arrow. It isn`t for me, it`s for Wels. I wouldn`t be able to use this even if I tried with all my might.

Wels has given me the bat he found. He is always so considerate. He stood by my side even when I am notoriously a bad person. And the bad guy of this story.

I can imagine some Capitolite finding out the things I did when they make a book about this year's games, and calling it, "The Great Story of Heroic Survivors... And Scon who keeps getting saved by seemingly no reason."

What do I have? Some kind of invisible armor that keeps safe from death?

This is so unfair.

I don`t deserve it.

"Wels…" I start saying as we walk further away from the field. "I am sorry." He looks at me oddly.

"W-Why are you sorry?" He says

"I am sorry for every bad thing I have done. I am a worthless piece of shit who is the most selfish son of a bitch in the entire planet- I only do bad things- I am a horrible human being and- "

He Hugs me. He never hugged anyone before in all the time we spent together. But he is hugging me now.

_Why is he doing it?_

"It`s okay- no need to apologize."

"But-" My sincerity is interrupted by the anthem. It shows on the windows this time too.

The first person that appears after the hymn is… Acacia. So that means-

"Kasha is still alive." Wels says

The next person showing is obviously Melliora. And she appears right the moment I think of it.

I am guilty of her death. I am guilty of everyone`s death here. Hell, I am also guilty for the pain Chickadee must be feeling due to the death of his allies.

I am horrible.

An announcement sounds through the halls of the school.

"HELLO TRIBUTES! I AM ME, LORENZO SALAS, AND I AM HERE TO TELL THAT WE ARE VERY GLAD YOU GUYS ARE DYING LIKE YOU ARE DYING. AND FOR THAT REASON, IN THE MORNING WE ARE A DOING A FEAST FOR YOU GUYS! SO, YOU CAN KILL EACH OTHER MORE. I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT IT. OKAY CIAO!"

"Fucking Lorenzo!" Wels says and then chuckles. "It`s all the same with him"

I can`t take it anymore.

"Wels, I- "

"Step aside!"

I turn around.

Amara is standing there, trident in hand.

_Fuck_

"I-I don`t want to fight." She says. She looks like has been crying. "Just give me your stuff and I will walk away."

Wels and I look at each other. We certainly _don`t_ want to lose our stuff.

"Just-Just give it to me and I will go away!"

Wels is the one to speak next.

"Amara… It`s okay. I saw Tia and Lukas in the sky the other day. Are you okay?"

"Stop talking! Just give me your stuff!"

Wels slowly walks up to her. "We can ally."

"I-I don`t want that!"

"What if we just do an agreement till the feast?" He comes nearer and I am afraid she might snap and kill him.

"Wels…" I whisper.

"I-I"  
"We can help you, Amara. Just let us do it."

And in that moment Amara throws the trident.

I scream for a moment.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Wels and Amara both look at me.

"Oh… You just left it on the ground."

And then, Amara starts laughing. Wels also laughs.

"Not funny. I could be dead."

And in the moment, I am about to start laughing too, Amara starts crying alongside the laughing.

And then it`s just crying.

Wels hugs her. I don`t because it`s not my place. And also, because she was about to steal from us a minute ago.

We share some stuff. We settle camp for the night. I am the one staying awake today.

After all, after seeing so much death, I don`t want to see the nightmares my brain has prepared for me.

And I am left thinking… What are we gonna do now?

And more importantly, what am I gonna do with my webs of lies?

* * *

_8__th__ Acacia Woods (D7F) (20) – Wounded by Melliora Niskon (D10F) and killed by Kasha Spelt (D9F) – Shot an arrow at her accidentally and killed off by a throat slitting – Acacia is mine so there is not much to comment. What I really liked is that we could implement the anger of her in the games, and her using the anger for her drive to win. But then she realized her boyfriend wouldn`t have liked for her to become that, and that`s why she is dead now. Because she let someone get away. Bye Acacia!_

_7__th__ Melliora Niskon (D10F) – Killed by a baseball outfit mutt- Dismembered – WOW! That mutt had a lot of strength in it, and that`s why she died that way. Melliora is a fascinating character. She was a racist, but she was also in a grieving state for a family member who died. It was sad, and that's why she was so ruthless and ready to win. She just couldn`t comprehend other people as being different to her, and because they were different, that meant they weren`t people. RIP Melliora. You will be missed._

* * *

_**Alliances:**_

_**Oh... yes? What?!: Scon, Wels, Amara**_

_**The numbers are winding down: Kasha**_

_**Maybe he doesn`t have more bullets?: Mortel**_

_**REALLY not a good Vendetta Searcher: Gael**_

* * *

_**Kills:**_

_**Charlotte: 3 (Kareen, Pansy, Lukas)**_

_**Lukas: 1 (Reginus)**_

_**Domitia: 2 (Zack, Charlotte)**_

_**Wels: 1 (Cliomera)**_

_**Amara: 2 (Andromeda, Erick)**_

_**Acacia: 1 (Jackob)**_

_**Scon: 1 (Domitia)**_

_**Kasha: 2 (William, Acacia)**_

_**Gael: 1 (Holland)**_

_**Melliora: 1 (Briar)**_

_**Mortel: 1 (Jessika)**_

_**Mutts: 1 (Melliora)**_

* * *

_Hope you liked the chapter!_

_-Santiago and James_


	19. Night Three: Connection

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

Scon had awoken me, telling me he couldn't stay awake much longer. I can't say I mind; I couldn't sleep anyway so it's all the better I get an excuse to stay up. The wind isn't too harsh, but it blows back my brown hair.

Beside me is Amara, she sniffs and cries in her sleep, probably thinking of her previous allies. I know Scon killed one of them, but do I tell her? If I'm going to keep things straight…I'm going to have to be honest, but I can't betray Scon like that.

I just can't.

A moment later, Amara elegantly pulls herself up from her laying position and makes a twisted face at me, she's confused, overwhelmed without a doubt. I wish I could tell her it's going to be okay but there will be only 2 winners. At least one of us will have to die.

I don't know if I'm ready to choose who. Surely it would be brave for me to pick myself…but I want to live. As much as I hate to admit my selfishness, I really don't want to die.

"You okay?" Amara asks, most likely she's wondering why I'm staring at the floor as if I'm in some sort of chance.

"I mean…I guess." No, I'm not okay. I'm in the freaking Hunger Games, my parents know about Lukas, Scon will hate me because of Clio, and I don't want to die…I really don't. Being the coward, I am, it's easier to just answer with I'm okay.

_Ah, Wels. Always taking the easiest path! What a coward._

Why had Nile become my conscience? The person I hate most know speaks to me. I really do need to get over this bullying.

"I hate you Nile! You've made my life a disaster since day 1. I hate you!" I sob and scream with anger and hurt. All the emotions fuel me up, all I want to do is win.

"Wels…? Who is Nile?" Amara whispers, surprisingly Scon still lay as still as a twig. I don't know what to do so I just tell Amara everything, highly aware everyone watching can hear my shitty life. And by everyone, I mean the whole of Panem.

"So, before I unwillingly volunteered, I told my parents…and yeah, here we are." My face is filled with red patches, I know this because it happens every time I cry, and I wipe of the few tears that still trickle down my cheeks.

"Wow..." She murmurs. "Well, it's my turn." I turn to face her and realize she's closing her eyes as if she's trying not to cry. "My family expects me to be so proper and they expect…they expect so much from me. Most of them have made so many achievements and so…well, all I want to do is make my father happy. Maybe if I'm a victor, he'll be proud of me. I'll be the daughter he wanted me to be.

"I had no idea…honestly, I thought you were just a wannabe career, but you've proved me wrong." Suddenly, I feel Amara's arms wrap around my back and squeeze as she hugs me so tight that I can barely breathe.

"Thank you." She sniffs and I put my arms around her as she places her chin on my shoulder.

It takes maybe 2 minutes for Amara to fall asleep and so I take her head in my hands and place her carefully to the floor.

The feast is tomorrow and it's clear that the Gamemakers won't make all 3 of us survive.


	20. Day Four: Feast of Kings and Queens

_**Feast**_

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

Wels and I are prepared.

I don't know about Amara. She seems a little heavy-handed in her mentality. But i think we are ready.

Only one thing must be done.

"Wels… can I talk to you for a second?" I say in my weak voice.

"Sure" he grabs his stuff and we go to a corner while Amara finishes waking up.

"What do you want me to say?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that I don't know what I can say anymore. I am a bad person. I do horrible things and I am a loser and-"

"Shhh," Wels says to me. "It`s gonna be okay. What's the matter?"

_Tell him what you did in the capitol, tell him how disgusting of a person you are, that you did that only for you not to be alone in an arena. Tell him. Tell him now._

"I... I" I whisper. "I killed Domitia"

Wels looks shocked and worried. The rational part of my brain tells me _ha-ha, if he looks like that over this, he would look ten times worse over the other thing. _

"Just… Don`t tell Amara, okay?" He says worryingly worried. "She might...probably...likely get mad if she finds out."

"Yeah, I know. But I think I really-"

"Just- Just don`t tell her, please. I don`t want to mess up what we have as a group."

"Oh, okay."

"What are you whispering about over there? Come help with my stuff."

We, Wels and I, look at each other to confirm what we have said, or more likely what he had said to me about what I had confessed to him.

"What are your plans if you guys win?" Amara asks us as we walk to the feast.

Wels looks at her, at me, and then her. "Well, I plan to spend the rest of my days with Lukas, my boyfriend, and such... What about you guys?"

"Well, I think I would like to bring people joy. I always say i will keep on smiling no matter, and while these have been a few long-lasting days, I think I can keep doing it. And maybe bring others joy as well."  
"Oh, and how do you plan to do that, Mara?"

"Well, I think I would like to be a comedian."

"Oh yeah? Tell us a joke."

"Okay. What's the pandemonium favorite object to torture people with?"

I continue to be silent. Wels asks her what it is.

"It`s pans. Get it, pandemonium, pan, get it?"

Wels looks dumbfounded at Amara, and then laughs.

"Yeah, good joke. Just… work on a little if you get out, okay?"

"Of course. Talent comes with persistence." She looks at me, as I have been looking down at the floor for a while. "What about you, Scon? What do you want to do if you get out of this mess?"

"Well… I don`t know." I say. "I always wanted to be a writer, but the days before the reaping I spend them thinking about how misery is the one who makes write, and without misery, no creativity expires from the human soul. Now… I just don`t know if I want to keep doing it anymore."

"It`s okay to feel that way." He says. "We all feel like we wanna give up sometimes and that`s okay. We all wanna give up sometimes and that`s fine. It`s part of human nature. But it`s also part of human nature the instinct to survive and be determined and face adversities."

"Yeah, we can do it!" Amara says rapidly.

"Yeah, we can!" Wels tells us

"I don't know if we should be screaming…"

"WE CAN DO IT!" they say in unison.

"Okay, we can do it. Now, keep your mouth down please keep quiet. Please."

They laugh and we continue our journey to the center of the arena.

We arrive at the cornucopia. No one seems to be there, so we just get in and grab our stuff before anyone else comes.

"Look, there is food, water. And what is this?" she says opening Mortel`s bag with his supposed stuff.

"Are these… bullets?!"

"Seems about right."

"Why though?

"Well… he has a gun."

"HE HAS WHAT?!"

"Yeah. He shot Jessika with it."

"How the hell are we supposed to fight with someone with a gun?!"

"It doesn't seem like the type the peacekeepers had. It seemed older, and more rudimentary."  
"But a gun!"

I continue to grab all of our proposed stuff. No one will come after us if we just grab our stuff.  
"Guys, we gotta go before anyone else comes!"

"Screw this, I'm grabbing the bullets." Amara says.

"Amara, no."

"Let`s spilt them up. Three for you, three for you and three for me."

"Amara, we don`t have time to do this."  
"And you don`t have to say such long sentences. Take these ones and just be over it!"

"Fine." He says. He and I grab our correspondent bullets.  
"Can we go-"

A gunshot sounds through the air. We see someone approaching. He is armed.

With a gun.

"What are you three furbies doing with my stuff?" He yells at us while waving his gun around the air.

We keep silent and we don`t move. He could shoot us in the spot if we do it. We are dead meat now.  
"Huh. I thought I said something about you guys lurking around my stuff. I will have to say it again. What. Are. You. Doing. With. My. Stuff!" He screams again. We still don`t move.

"Give me my bag." He says to us.

"Ho-How?"

"Throw it at me. Now!"

I picture ten thousand ways this could end. He shoots all of us three, he shoots me and Amara, him killing Wels and Amara and me being killed by someone else. I don`t want that to happen. I don`t want to die. Please, universe, don`t let me die.

Amara throws him the bag. He starts searching it. For a moment he looks pleased, but then…

"Where are my bullets?" he shouts. "I said, where are my bullets?!"

"Wha-what bullets are you talking about, Mortel?"

"Don`t play dumb with, career. I know you have them."

We are terrified.

"So…" a voice from behind Mortel says. "That means you have none?"

"Wha-"

Mortel has no time before he turns around that he starts being stabbed. A knife comes down on him again and again, and he screams but to no avail. His weapon goes flying out of the place  
"Hey, boys" Kasha says. "Nice to see you again" she giggles. "Getting worked up i see."

It all happens in a flash of an instant. Amara grabs her trident and goes against Kasha.

Then, that happens.

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

I scream and run after Amara as she drops her trident, getting stabbed in the side by Kasha. Blood eases out of her and she groans, falling to the ground. I chase Kasha with the spear I pulled out of my bag.

Scon stands in shock and I yell at him to grab the gun as I run back to Amara. She rolls over to look at me and I smile, sadly, tears in my eyes.

"Come on, Amara stay strong!" I shout, shaking her eyes open. I can't let the life leave her, I just can't. She's the only sense of home I have left.

"Tell me a joke." She whispers. I wrack my memory of any jokes I can think of, then, I remember one that Lukas had told me once and had made milk come out of nose when we were in our favourite café. I sigh, missing him so much.

"It's stupid." I laugh but she puts her hand on my wrist and nods, fighting to stay awake, fighting to stay alive.

"Gael will be her any second, Wels." Scon cries but I block him out. I don't care anymore.

"What happens to a frog's car when it breaks down?" I ask and she makes a gesture to say she doesn't know. "It gets toad away." She giggles softly.

"Thank you. Tell my family I love them when you win, Wels."

"I will Amara, I will." I can't hold back tears as her heart stops beating. I have to win this, for Lukas, for my family and for Amara.

"Let's go." I say to Scon as I brush my hand over her eyes and her cannon sounds, signalling that she's gone, gone forever. I stand up and Scon jogs to walk beside me, gun in hand. "Load it, we might need it." I say and he looks at the gun, fiddling with it before finding where to put the bullets.

"Not so fast, boys." A voice booms from behind us and I roll my eyes to see Gael, at his backpack with a newfound throwing knife.

"Yeah right, you couldn't kill us with that, I doubt you can even throw a knife." I chuckle and Scon manages a smile, but I can sense the fear inside of him. He's not one that can keep his emotions hidden very well. I've always been good on putting a smile on over my clear depression, making it hard for most to believe I even have it.

"Don't underestimate me bisexual bitch."

"Is that your new nickname! Oh, how cute, they start with the same letter." Gael turns red and then his expression turns to anger, he holds the knife back and throws it write into my leg, it makes a small cut but nothing bad, I pull it out and he brandishes a cutlass.

At that moment, I hold my spear high and we run toward each other. He goes for the first move, jabbing at my stomach but it's an easy block and I hold the spear out in front of me as the cutlass bounces off, making him surprised and me already stabbing at him without a second hesitation.

He swipes my first attach away and cuts his hand on the front of my spear, making it easy for me to try again and I get him straight in the shoulder. Not exactly where I aimed but it tore a nice wound.

Gael is almost twice my bodyweight and he makes it clear that he knows as he pounces on top of me and snarls, his face only a cm away from mine. I try to push him off me, but he puts his cutlass to my neck. I'm ready to die. There's nothing else I can do, I'm ready for him to slice my neck and end my life.

"Goodbye." He says, smiling and I close my eyes. Suddenly, there's a loud bang and I feel some of the bodyweight taken off of me, I just manage to scramble out from under the dead body of Gael and Scon stands beside me, his gun pointed at what used to be the District 10 Male.

"Scon…thank you!" If Scon wasn't my friend before, he definitely is now. He killed someone to save my life. Scon saved my fucking life, I feel so grateful, but he looks sad. "You had to Scon…there was no other way."

"It's not that." He sounds shaky and I look at him, worried."

"What? What happened?"

"The day, the day Chickadee was saved by the Capitol. I was looking for the bathroom…and…I found where they kept track of the votes. Somebody was winning and I saw Chickadee in second, I couldn't let this person win because I was selfish. I was selfish and I'm a horrible person…but…I'm an honest person and you have to know. You were going to win that vote but- but I changed it to Chickadee."

Everything in the world feels gone, all I can focus on is the words Scon is saying. I don't know how to react, so I fall to the ground, fainting.

_6__th__ Mortel Yeux (D11M) – Killed by Kasha Spelt (D9F) – Stabbed to death – Mortel! We all knew you wouldn't win but that doesn't mean you weren't great for the story. You were perfect for your antagonist role in the games and we actually had a lot of antagonists this year. Your backstory was awesome, and I can't wait to explore more of it in The Dead Have A Voice. You being sponsored with a gun was an awesome way to make you a lot more unique to the other antagonists and you killing Pansy and Jessika was such a cool twist. Sorry, that gun was way too overpowered! Thank you so much, sherazade. RIP._

_5__th__ Amara Sol (D4F) – Killed by Kasha Spelt (D9F) – Stabbed in the side and bled to death from the wound – Amara, when I first got you, I knew I wanted you as Wels' district partner. You were such a unique character with so much to explore and I can't wait to do more with you in The Dead Have A Voice. You and Wels had such a great and important relationship that made a great plot for the both of you and you were extremely important to the SYOT but for the final 3 plots, we were forced to kill you here. Thanks a bunch, Shiro. RIP._

_4__th__ Gael Yule (D10M) – Killed by Scon Lavalle (D9M) – Shot in the face by a gun, blowing his head back and breaking his neck – Oh my gosh Gael. You were never supposed to be the horrible tribute that you became but you were just so cool. The whole breaking up with the alliance thing and homophobia from a homosexual was just such an interesting character arc and I'm afraid you went a little crazier than you were supposed to, it even scared me while writing you. It was either you or Kasha in the final 3 and sadly, for you, we settled on Kasha. Thank you for him, Juud! RIP._

* * *

"_**You just saved my life!", "But I'm the reason your life needed saving.": Scon and Wels.**_

_**6 kills, here I come: Kasha**_

* * *

_**Charlotte: 3 (Kareen, Pansy, Lukas)**_

_**Lukas: 1 (Reginus)**_

_**Domitia: 2 (Zack, Charlotte)**_

_**Wels: 1 (Cliomera)**_

_**Amara: 2 (Andromeda, Erick)**_

_**Acacia: 1 (Jackob)**_

_**Scon: 2 (Domitia, Gael)**_

_**Kasha: 4 (William, Acacia, Mortel, Amara)**_

_**Gael: 1 (Holland)**_

_**Melliora: 1 (Briar)**_

_**Mortel: 1 (Jessika)**_

_**Mutts: 1 (Melliora)**_

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_**Finale coming up soon, probably on 6th of July**_


	21. Finale: Clash Defiant

_**Hear this chapter music with Youtube`s video: 1 Hour of Suspenseful Music, from minutes 4:09 to 10:22 **_

_**Now, let`s get into it. **_

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_**Finale**_

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_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

He hasn´t woken up yet.

I had to drag him all the way out of the cornucopia to a classroom, so he wouldn´t go and get killed by Kasha if she showed up again. We can still win this together, we can, we can do it.

_If he even wants to win with you or if they will let you. _

"Brain, I know I will have to do something to win, but I don´t want to kill him. If he wants to kill me when he wakes up, we will fight and that´s it. And if the gamemakers want to kill me because of what I did, that´s it. There is no way I will survive if the gamemakers don´t want me to."

I look outside the window of the classroom. I try to open it but it´s locked.

"Damnit".

Suddenly, I can sense that everyone is watching me. I know I am in the Hunger Games, and that all I freaking do is mop the floor with my dumb feelings, but I guess the only way to find out is to try. To try and try to be honest. To try and try to be your better self, no matter how many times you have screwed up. That´s the only logical way a person can grow as one and become better than what they are.

"You know, what?" I say nowhere hoping that there is a camera somewhere around me. "I don´t regret what I did. I know what I did is bad, and I am sorry, I have freaking made myself feel bad for it the whole time, and I am done. The only thing that is left to do is make amends, because saying you are sorry won´t fucking fix things, you know?" I grab the bottle of water we have left from the supplies.

"Cheer with me, audience. The show is about to end."

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

My name is called, the crowd goes wild and Chickadee goes back behind the stage, having to return to The Hunger Games. I cry happy tears as I realize that everything, I have been worried about will go away as I've been voted out of The Hunger Games.

I think of Lukas and my family all cheering back home and I run, run to the train where I'm going to be taken back to the place, I love most in the world. I haven't even had to kill anyone to get here.

I smile as Tormenta pours me some wine and we celebrate, laughing and chatting the night away and so, as the night is ending, I turn on the TV and watch The Hunger Games commence, Amara kills Chickadee right off the back and I cheer, shouting,

"Go on Amara!"

I laugh as she kills another tribute. She's doing great! Imagine if she could come home as well and we could be such great friends. Suddenly, I see a face, staring at me. A lifeless body on the ground with a tall handsome man standing over it, stabbing it.

The face lays, eyes open, talking.

"I'm sorry, Wels. I'm sorry, Wels. I'm sorry, Wels." I start to scream as it all begins to flood back to me, everything around me twists and turns and I'm watching Amara die all over again. Then, I'm watching Scon tell me the truth, all the while I'm thrashing around, trying to get away, run away.

I hate Scon. He ruined my life.

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

"Hi" I say while holding myself off from doing anything irrational

Wels doesn´t respond. He crawls away from me, without looking at me, like I have some sort of disease. I always thought people did that to me, but I guess I never really knew until now.

"You have been asleep for a day." I say while nearing him with a bottle of water as he crawls away even further. "Take it"

He then looks at me. "No."

I sigh. "Okay, what do you want to do Wels, keep crawling away? Do you wanna punch me in the face? Or are the balls better?" I ask while pointing to that position. "Do you want to kick me in the balls and make me think I will never have kids? Do it, I know you can do it. You just need do blow off some steam, huh? Just-"

Apparently, he decides not to kick me in the balls,

He decides to stand up, make it out like he is gonna leave… and then he throws me to the ground and starts punching me in the face.

I let him. I let him as he punches and screams. I let him as he discharges all of his anger on me. I decide to let him, because he deserves to let it all out.

"Asshole. Stupid. You. Made. Me. Be. In. This. Hell." He says as he continues to punch me repeatedly. "Fight back, Fight back!" He screams at me in his fury. I can´t respond, because he keeps hitting me, and I decide to try to not respond either. It´s just what needs to happen.

"Fight back! Fight back like that District Three Girl!"

_Wait… What does he mean by that?_

I kick him in the stomach and I put myself above him.

"What did you do, Wels? What did you do?!"

He spits at me. "Nothing worse than what you did. In fact, you have done twice already!"

I want to scream. I want to kick and punch him so hard. He is the reason Clio is dead? He is the reason I lost a friend? Part of me wants to kill him right there and here. I could do it. I have a knife in my pocket. I could do anything with it. I could stab him right here, right now, and end these games once and for all. I could be a victor already, and have a crown under my belt. Maybe Kasha would forgive me for leaving her when we were kids, and we could be a victor couple, and have beautiful kids, that won´t get reaped because we would bribe the escorts not to say their names. It could be wonderful.

But… I realize I don´t want that. I don´t want to be lamenting the past for something that could be, when I don´t truly need it.

I stand up and point him with my knife. "I don´t want to kill you Wels. I truly don´t want to."

He also stands up. And just when I think he is gonna attack me again, he says;

"I am leaving."

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

I killed Clio and I don't care. Maybe I cared a little bit when it happened, especially because she was Scon's friend but not anymore. He killed Amara's friend, so why couldn't I kill Clio.

"Just fuck off, I'm going to go fight her myself." I mutter under my breath and he stands, as still as a statue, his face red with anger. I close the door behind me and start to walk when suddenly, I hear stomping.

It's loud. Very loud and it's…getting closer? I look behind me and see a breathless Scon screaming for me to run for the cornucopia. At that moment, I see the crowd of running people not far behind him. They could trample us to death in a matter of seconds, I think as they flood the hallways and I run, shaking my head.

This is it. The final showdown, I guess. Kasha vs I and maybe Scon will decide to help but he barely ever does, just a complete nuisance that ruined my life and I'm the only reason he's still in these games and he knows it.

He saved my life, but he wouldn't have if I hadn't told him to pick up the gun. If we do win this together, I never want to see him again. I'm going to settle down with Lukas and never think about that boy from district 9.

We approach the cornucopia, breathless.

* * *

_**Scon Lavalle, District Nine Male (18)**_

* * *

The crowd pushes me in the courtyard. And when we arrive, I wasn´t actually expecting what we found.

Fucking cheerleaders.

There are a three cheerleader groups. One with each our names on it´s clothes. Mine and Wels´ have both boys and girls on it, while Kasha´s only has boys.

And there she is. Kasha. Standing on the other side of the courtyard.

Ready to attack.

"Hello, boys." She says while holding a knife on her hands. "Good to see you?" She looks at me and yells. "I don´t think you guys had a great time over there. Did the crowd stomp on your little dumb faces?" She says and laughs

I notice Wels is now more focused on his anger at her than at me. Maybe´s that good? I don´t know. I just hope he doesn´t attack me and we have to fight.

"Come on, boys are you pussys?" She continues to scream. "FAGS!"

Wels attempts to run to her to attack, but I stop him.

"Let me." I say. "You deserve to live." I spout. "Let me fight for what it´s worth and not be a coward, for once"

Wels looks at me, and he relaxes. He must be happy knowing he is gonna live no matter what. I would be too. But I have to do it, I just have to. And we don´t have the gun anymore, so even if we tried to do something about it, we couldn´t.

So, then I run to the Kasha, and the cheers start.

* * *

_**Wels Saltear, District Four Male (16)**_

* * *

I watch as Scon approaches Kasha and they hold their knives out, beginning the battle, I don't care which one dies. They are both just as bad as each other. I hear Scon yelp as Kasha cuts his arm. It will be an easy loss for Scon, and I just can't help but feel bad for him.

I look to my side, trying to find something. I see it, the gun, laying across the floor. I could've sworn it wasn't there 5 seconds ago, I dive and grab it.

I watch them battle it out a bit more until they see me holding the gun to them. They both stand still, knowing I have the power. Who to shoot, though?

Scon ruined my life and maybe if I kill him now, I would never have to think about him again…but Scon has been my ally from the start. He chose me instead of Gael and Kasha has always been the main enemy.

I hate Scon, though. So, I point the gun at him and take a deep breath, Kasha pulls a sly move and tries to slice Scon's leg, but she isn't able to leave a cut because she already lays lifeless on the ground, a bullet through her stomach.

Scon stares at me with so much thanks but I ignore it. I sit against the cornucopia as the annoying voice of Lorenzo announces,

"Scon Lavalle and Wels Saltear, congratulations, you just won the 117th Hunger Games!" It's so reassuring to hear his voice and I sigh as I slump further and further down the cornucopia until I give into my fatigue and drift off, back to a land of no worries.

After all, I no longer have any worries. I just won The Hunger Games.

* * *

**A/N: James: Oh my god! I loved writing that finale so damn much and I hope you enjoyed reading it. I'm pretty sure most people that remembered there would be 2 Victors knew this would happen. There will be 1 or 2 epilogues, so look out for them!**

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_3__rd__ Kasha Spelt (D9F) – Killed by Wels Saltear (D4M) – Shot through the stomach – Ah, Kasha! Your time has finally come. You were a great tribute, through and through and it was great to have you apart of the D9 team and one of the main tributes of this SYOT. We all knew Kasha wouldn't stand a chance against the broken Scon and Wels, but it was still such a bad way to go, thinking you were going to win. I really enjoyed writing her journey through the games and I hope you liked reading it, Misty, if you're still reading. Thanks, so much for her, Misty. RIP Kasha._

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**_Hope you are having a great day, and i will catch you all later on with epilogues!_**


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